Meeting the Ferret's Spawn
by CheshireCat23
Summary: While on a school trip at the Ministry, Hermione is involved in a time-turner accident and ends up 25 years in the future. There, to her horror, the "Ferret's" very own spawn takes interest in her. Hermione/Scorpius. COMPLETE!
1. Chapter 1: The Delorean

Disclaimer: J.K. Rowling is the author of the Harry Potter series. All canon characters and canon situations belong to her. No copyright or trademark infringement is intended. I don't make any profit from this.

Summary: While on a school trip at the Ministry, Hermione is involved in a time-turner accident and ends up 25 years in the future. There, to her horror, the „Ferret's" very own spawn takes interest in her. Hermione/Scorpius.

* * *

A/N: AU. Voldemort was defeated in the Trio's 6th year. They are now completing their 7th.

This chapter was betaed by Hermione's Evil Twin. (Thank you!)

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Chapter 1: The "DeLorean"

* * *

"Unfortunately, all time-turners that were kept in the Department of Mysteries, except for this one, were destroyed a couple of years ago," explained the Ministry guide that was showing the class around.

Hermione, Harry, Ron and Neville looked at each other guiltily. It had been two years since the 'Ministry Incident', when they, with Ginny and Luna, had battled the Death Eaters here. What had happened that day was certainly no secret: they could all feel the eyes of their fellow students on them.

"... are very complex instruments. There are only a handful people in the world who are familiar with the art of making time-turners. The use of time-turners is strictly monitored by the Ministry and the permission to use time-turners is rarely given, especially now that the Ministry of Magic only has one exemplar left," the guide continued.

Hermione still remembered clearly how difficult it had been to convince the Ministry to let her have, and use, a time-turner back in her third year. It had been a mountain of paperwork that had never seemed to end. Hermione and Professor McGonagall had spent months trying to get permission. They had almost thrown in the towel, but were luckily given approval in the end.

"You may take a step closer for a better look at the object, but _please_ be careful and do refrain from touching the display case and from crossing the red line," the short man with the horn-rimmed glasses told them.

"Is this tour going to be over any time soon? We've been here for 4 hours already. It's lunch time," Ron grumbled under his breath, to which Harry, who seemed to share Ron's sentiments, nodded - both boys tended to get horribly grouchy when hungry.

"Shhh, Ron, stop complaining! You should be glad that the Ministry offered this tour. They normally don't do that and besides, this is a nice change. Would you rather have regular classes instead?" Hermione asked him.

"I guess this isn't too bad. But come on, Hermione! We've been walking around here for hours. I need some food to restore my energy! You don't want me to collapse now, do you?" countered Ron.

Hermione chuckled lightly and rolled her eyes.

"Guys, let's go a little closer. I can't see anything from here! They're blocking the view," Neville suggested, craning his neck and tugging at Hermione's robes.

"You two go on. Ron and I will just stay here. We've seen a time-turner before," said Harry, who, like Ron, seemed to be incredibly bored.

Hermione shook her head at both of them. Even though she already knew a lot about time-turners, Hermione couldn't understand how Harry and Ron could be so disinterested. Time-turners were so fascinating! The whole issue of a device created to manipulate time was still mind-boggling to her.

Sighing, she and Neville made their way towards the front of the crowd, but while on their way there, Neville, being the clumsy person that he was, stumbled over a pair of feet. He screamed shrilly and desperately tried to grab hold onto the next best thing to prevent himself from falling flat on his face.

Unfortunately, that next best thing happened to be the display case, in which the time-turner was kept.

"_Longbottom_!" Professor McGonagall screeched in horror, when she saw her student falling acrobatically and taking down the cabinet with him.

"AHHH! Someone save the time-turner!" their guide screamed hysterically - and quite understandably. This was the Ministry's _only_ time-turner left, after all.

Hermione, standing the closest to Neville, reacted quickly and jumped forward.

Everything seemed to move in slow motion and everyone held their breath. Would Hermione be able to save the Ministry's last remaining time-turner, or would it be destroyed, just like the others by Harry and his friends?

The cabinet came down with a loud crash, sending broken pieces of glass flying everywhere. However, to everyone's relief, Hermione had managed to catch the time-turner, preventing it from breaking.

While being thrown through the air, however, the time-turner's wheels had begun to spin, activating the device.

Before Hermione could register her predicament, everything around her began to blur and she was being transported away.

* * *

A/N: The name of the chapter, as you may have guessed, is a reference to the film "Back to the Future".


	2. Chapter 2: Great Scott!

Chapter 2: Great Scott!

* * *

The blur was gone, but Hermione nevertheless felt dizzy and disoriented as she lay on the cold stone floor, the time-turner still clutched tightly in her hands. She groaned loudly when a sharp pain shot through her body the moment she tried to budge and sit up. Apparently her fall had caused more severe bruising than she had initially thought. So Hermione just continued to lie there after having quickly decided that it was probably better not to move just yet.

It didn't take long, however, until Hermione heard hurried footsteps and voices coming closer to where she was, disturbing her peace and quiet. Before the Gryffindor could identify the direction of the source of noise, she was already welcomed by a loud booming voice that had her jump with fright.

"OI, KID! What are you doing here? This is an access restricted area – meaning, for Unspeakables only! And I highly doubt you're an Unspeakable and have any authority to be in here!"

Hermione watched the man in the dark blue uniform, who was glaring down at her, with wide eyes. Somehow she had this inkling feeling that she was in trouble, even though she could not think of a reason why.

"What ar-," she began to ask, only to be cut off by another voice.

It was only then when Hermione noticed the other man in the same blue uniform, who had come to stand next to the glaring Unspeakable.

"What were you thinking, sneaking into the Department of Mysteries like this, girl? That was really stupid of you. Fox, come on, let's take her to the Aurors. They can deal with her."

A dumb 'Huh?' was all Hermione managed to say in her confused state. She couldn't understand what the hell was going on or why these men wanted to drag her off to see Aurors. She was just a harmless visitor doing a tour, yet they were treating her as if she was a criminal! Draco Malfoy's infamous line 'My father will hear about this!' popped into her head immediately at this outrageous treatment.

Feeling wary, Hermione sat up carefully and looked around. She was definitely still in the same hall, yet it looked very different. Something was off here. Something was very, very wrong. Gone were the all display cases and gone were all exhibited artefacts... The hall looked nothing like the Ministry museum she had visited with her class. Her class - there was no trace of them either. Realization slowly dawned on Hermione when she looked down at the time-turner.

_Bloody. Hell._

Yet before she could assimilate that information entirely, Hermione was suddenly pulled roughly off the floor into standing position. The movement came so unexpectedly and caught her off guard that Hermione dropped her time-turner, letting it fall to the ground.

"What's this?" the unpleasant Unspeakable, who now had her by her shoulders and was shaking her, demanded. "Did you try to steal this?" he nodded at the fallen object.

Hermione wanted to explain herself, but the other Unspeakable, again, was faster. He tried to calm down his colleague, "Now Tannen, no need to get rough. Let's just try tr-"

CRACK!

Hermione flinched visibly when she heard the sound. She prayed desperately that the suspicions racing through her mind at the very moment were wrong and that the breaking sound wasn't from what she thought it was. Her fears, however, were only confirmed when she looked down to the ground: The Unspeakable had accidentally stepped on the time-turner and broken it. Its broken parts were now strewn on the floor.

Hermione shut her eyes tightly. She couldn't believe this was happening to her. Everything was all slowly, but surely turning into a horrible nightmare for her.

She took several deep breaths in hope that this would help her to stay calm and composed, but to no avail. Something inside her seemed to have snapped in her panic and before Hermione knew it, she was already pouncing on the responsible Unspeakable and punching him in the eye.

"DAMMIT! Are you crazy?" Fox yelled, clutching his left eye and wincing.

Tannen, who was still stunned from this whole progress of development, quickly went over to help his colleague and tried to pull the girl off him, however without success. The girl seemed to have gone completely berserk and just continued to throw hooks at the poor Unspeakable, whilst letting out a string of profanities.

"Whoa, calm down. _Ouch_! You littl-," Fox hollered, holding up his arms to shield himself from Hermione's attacks.

Unfortunately for him, Hermione did anything but calm down and only prepared to take another swing at his face, before a loud 'Stupefy!' was shouted.

It was then, when Hermione's world went black as she went out cold.

* * *

"She's stirring. I think she's waking up."

"Uugh, no! Why couldn't we just cast a body-bind on her like I had suggested? That girl is not only crazy, but dangerous, I'm telling you! See my poor eye!" Fox complained, pointing to his now black eye.

His partner, however, only frowned and waved him off. "Shut it and stop being such a pansy. She's just a girl."

Hermione, who was indeed regaining consciousness, listened to their conversation for a while. Then slowly, she opened her eyes and took in her surroundings. She was in a stuffy office, lying on a couch and with her in that office were the two Unspeakables, she had had the 'pleasure' of meeting earlier. The person standing the closest to her right now was the idiot Fox.

Hermione had to say that she agreed to his notion. They definitely should have cast a body-bind curse on her as she was determined to kill that nitwit for destroying her chance to get back home. Well, maybe not kill, but at least giving him another black eye, so he would have an excuse for being such a blind arse. Besides, two black eyes looked a lot more aesthetically pleasing than one. After all, he wasn't too bad looking, rather handsome man in fact. Hermione was sure that the man his mid-thirties could pull off the raccoon look.

Yet before Hermione could lunge at him again, the doors to the office opened and two men dressed in Auror robes stepped in. Hermione looked at them and her eyes grew wide as she registered with great shock that she knew both men.

Before her were standing a middle-aged Dean Thomas and Harry Potter.

* * *

A/N: Once again a little homage to BTTF in the chapter's title. Doc Brown is the best! I also named one Unspeakable after one of the characters in the film and the other after the actor of the main character. ^^

I'm not quite sure when I'll have Scorpius appear in this story, but probably around chapter five, maybe four.

Thank you, Hermione's Evil Twin, for betaing this chapter.


	3. Chapter 3: This Is Heavy

A/N: It was pointed out that the way Hermione acted was out of character and that Hermione would never resort to cursing and violence.

So let me explain why I wrote her that way: Hermione is stuck somewhere that is not her time. As a matter of fact, she doesn't even know whether she's in the past or future. The time-turner she used is broken beyond repair and in addition to that, she's in the presence of two rather hostile gentlemen...

I believe that in an extreme situation like this it would be normal to panic and I believe it is not unusual for someone to act differently than they normally would. I don't think that it is too unrealistic for Hermione to react the way I wrote her. Also, if this was the future, then there might be a good chance that she might not able to be send back, because a new time-turner might be not available (or even in the past getting a time-turner will not be easy).

As for cursing in general... The HP books were first and foremost written for children (hence the Disney-eske epilogue for example), so it would have been a little improper for JKR to have her characters swearing like sailors. But I don't think that anyone can argue that in real life it's actually completely normal for people to swear, especially for teenagers, even the goody-goody ones like Hermione.

I hope this explains things a little bit. :)

I appreciate the feedback, because it helps me to improve the story. Thanks!

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Chapter 3: This Is Heavy!

* * *

The three former housemates gaped at each other for what seemed like an eternity, not willing to believe their eyes. They were convinced that what they saw before them was just an illusion. They were only snapped out of their stunned state, when Fox decided to speak up again.

"We found her in the Department of Mysteries. She was trying to steal this," he explained and pointed at the time-turner in his co-workers hands.

Harry, who seemed to recover from the shock faster than Dean and Hermione, nodded once and then dismissed both of the Unspeakables. "Yes, thank you. I think we can take it from here."

"Right. Be careful, though. The girl looks all innocent and harmless, but she's got quite a violent streak there," Tannen warned both Aurors, before he and his colleague left the room to let the Harry and Dean deal with 'the Girl' alone.

"Great Scott! HERMIONE!" Harry, who had not once taken his eyes off his friend during this entire encounter, exclaimed. Then within milliseconds, he stood in front of her and was wrapping her in a bone-crushing hug.

"I can't believe this," he murmured repeatedly, before letting her go and looking at her with expression that displayed at least five different emotions at the same time. "25 years. I can't believe it. And now you're standing right before me!"

"25_ years?_" Hermione repeated stunned, her eyes growing wide.

While it didn't take to be a genius to realize that she ended up more than just a few years in the future, 25 years from her own time was pretty heavy, even for Hermione.

* * *

After they all had somewhat managed to collect themselves, Harry began to fill Hermione in about the happenings that had followed 'the incident'.

The disappearance of the war heroine had been a huge scandal and been reported all over the media for months. The Ministry had been under-fire by the outraged public and eventually had been forced to pass a new law, restricting all time-turning devices in Great Britain to a manipulation limit of a 72 hour span, for both going back and forth in time due to this public pressure.

Of course, a grand search for her was started and a team of specialists had worked excessively to find her. The search, however, had proved itself to be very difficult. The main problem had been that nobody knew whether Hermione had ended up in the past or if she was somewhere in the future. In addition to that, the resources for the Ministry to work with had also been fairly limited at that time.

So, after months of intensive researching in old Ministry records, among other things, in hope of finding Hermione Granger recorded there somewhere as a lost time traveller, the Ministry eventually admitted defeat and dropped all investigations after not even finding the slightest clue about her whereabouts.

They had come to the conclusion that she must have ended up somewhere in the future and that pretty much buried all hope in ever finding her again. Had she been somewhere back in time, bringing her back to their present would have been a lot easier as there would have been some points of reference. This way, however, the Ministry didn't even know where to start. True, they had been given a time manipulator by the Irish Ministry, but time travel was, like most manipulation processes, not entirely safe. The further away someone went from their own time, the more unstable the whole time travel process became. Very similarly to Apparition, a person could end up splinching badly. Thus, the Ministry had regarded the case as something that was left to be solved for by the Ministry of Magic of the future.

Her family and friends had tried many times, to get her case reopened, but without any success. The Ministry maintained their ground and regarded the issue as done after they had paid damages of 200 000 galleons to Hermione's family. Her parents had refused to accept the money at first, because no amount of money could compensate for their loss, their beloved daughter, but had taken it in the end and donated the money to a charity for war orphans. Throughout these years, Harry and Ron had remained in contact with the Grangers.

When Hermione heard Harry mentioning her parents, she immediately insisted on being taken to them. Knowing how hard and how upsetting the incident had been for her friends, she couldn't even imagine how devastating the whole mess must have been for her parents. She just hoped her parents would be able to handle this new situation well.

While Harry didn't want to let his friend go just yet and wanted to keep her with him a little longer, he understood, wasted no time and brought her to her parents.

To say the reunion with her parents was tearful would have probably been the understatement of the year. Even though the separation had only been a month, and not 25 years, for Hermione, she couldn't stop those the tears when she saw her mother and father and their very emotional reaction towards her.

The three of them were a complete mess, but luckily, they all managed to calm down from their emotional rollercoaster after a while. It was only then, when Hermione finally noticed that there was another person - a young man - in the room with them, carefully observing everything from a corner. One of the first things that caught Hermione's attention was how much resemblance he held to her father - except for his curly hair that reminded Hermione a lot of her mother's. How peculiar…

* * *

It turned out that the young man was her 'younger' 20-year-old brother named Robin. Hermione would've been lying if she claimed that she was entirely 'okay' with suddenly having a brother, although she could understand her parents' decision to have another child after losing her.

It was strange and both Granger children weren't sure how to deal with this new situation initially. Suddenly having a sibling was a thing you definitely needed to get used to, and while her brother had always known that he had a sister who had gone missing when she was 18, he sure as hell hadn't expected her to suddenly turn up out of nowhere again – and much less as a still 18-year-old.

It probably goes without saying that both he and Hermione were rather distant and awkward around the other – and even more so when their parents forced some 'quality time' on them, so they would get to know their sibling better and to make them warm up to each other. So after some painfully awkward time, they thankfully learned to accept the new family situation and found that they actually enjoyed having a sibling. Although, of course, both couldn't always help that little twinge of jealousy from time to time, now that they weren't the only child anymore and now had to 'share' their parents.

Hermione and her brother had many similar character traits and also shared a few interests, which helped them in connecting a lot. Robin however, unlike Hermione, was non-magical, but showed great interest in magic. Their parents had never told him about Hermione's magical abilities and the wizarding world. Robin was currently enrolled at university for dentistry. Their parents had planned on letting him take over their practice as they had been considering retirement for some time now, seeing they both were well over 60. Hermione was glad that her parents had someone to continue the 'family business', as she was pretty much out of question for that, since having received a different schooling than her brother. Before attending Hogwarts, it had been her dream to, just like her parents, become a dentist.

Speaking of education - when Hermione announced her plans on going back to Hogwarts to finish her schooling, her parents had been understandingly unhappy and reluctant, considering they had only just gotten their daughter back. However after a long and tiring discussion, in which they kept insisting that Hermione could also be home-schooled, seeing as the family was rather well off, Hermione's parents eventually gave in and tried not make Hermione too guilty about her decision. They made her promise, however, to write them regularly and to come back home for all holidays ("No staying away for Christmas and Easter!").

* * *

The reappearance of Hermione Granger was, without a question, a huge spectacle for the wizarding community. The media went absolutely crazy. Dozens of reporters had even come to camp in front of her childhood home, in hope of managing to snap pictures and to get interviews with her. All this was a very exhausting experience for Hermione, and she couldn't help but feel completely overwhelmed by all the unwanted attention - not to mention their poor, irritated neighbors who kept asking them about why those strange people were there.

After spending a couple of 'quiet' days with her family, Hermione received a letter from Harry, who invited her to his home to meet up with him and a couple of their old friends. Fortunately, this reunion was far less emotional than the one with her parents.

* * *

Hermione was a little more than surprised that when she rang the doorbell at Grimmauld Place, a brightly dressed and as bubbly as ever, Lavender Brown answered the door. Before Hermione could greet or say anything to her former roommate, Lavender already had her wrapped in a tight hug that made it difficult for her to breathe. Hermione felt that she was getting these kind of hugs a little too often these days, although of course, she was happy to see that she had been missed.

She was then led, or eagerly dragged if you wanted to be specific, to the living room, which was crowded with people: Harry, Ron, Neville, Luna, Dean, Hannah Longbottom (formerly Abbott), Molly, Arthur, George and a couple of children/teenagers between the age of 7 and 18, who she didn't know. Her friends all greeted her warmly, but surprisingly enough gave her enough space. Hermione suspected that Harry must have asked them not to crowd and overwhelm her too much, and for that, she was grateful. She had certainly had enough emotional encounters lately and she certainly couldn't deny how confused she was when instead of going to Ron, Lavender settled next to Harry, who in return went to put his arm around her and gave her a little peck on the cheek.

Even though Hermione knew it was rude to stare, she couldn't help but do just that: she stared unbelievingly at the _couple_.

Now how on earth did _they_ happen?

* * *

While Hermione tried to imagine different scenarios that explained this surprising development, she supposed that her facial expression must have been rather funny, judging by the laughter that erupted from the occupants of the room.

She was soon informed that after an Auror assignment gone wrong, Harry had to be taken to St. Mungo's for the treatment of his injuries. Lavender, who had just started working at St. Mungo's back then, had been his assigned nurse. Since life sometimes had its funny ways of working, the Nightingale Effect struck both of them and Harry and Lavender fell in love. However, the two hid their relationship for almost a year, afraid of people's (mainly Ron's) reactions. To their immense surprise and relief, Ron didn't mind them as a couple at all, but then that was only due to the fact that Ron had been sneaking around with Harry's ex Gabrielle, Fleur's little sister, behind their backs as well. Both couples were now married and with children.

Harry and Lavender had two: Sirius, who was 18 and had just graduated left school last summer, and Lily, who was 15 and in her 5th year at Hogwarts.

Ron and Gabrielle, on the other hand, had two girls: A daughter, who would be Hermione's year, named Rose and a two years younger one, named Clémentine – both of whom Ron was very, very protective of. Dean and Luna's unlucky teenage son had already been victim to his wrath. According to Ron he had only reacted that way because the boy tried to 'seduce' his eldest daughter.

Hermione also learned that while Harry had pursued his dream of becoming an Auror, Ron had chosen to be a professional Quidditch player. However in his fifth season as keeper for the Appleby Arrows, he had been forced to a break of seven months due to a severe sports injury. So during that time, being bored and frustrated because he couldn't play, Ron tried for new hobbies. It was then when Ron discovered a new passion. Namely: the joy of _cooking_! Much to everyone's surprise it turned out to be his true calling.

It wasn't until another two seasons later before Ron eventually decided for another career path and was determined to become a chef - for which he actually went to France for a year to get some basic training and where he also got together with Gabrielle. He now had a fancy restaurant called 'Le vif d'or' (The Golden Snitch).

Of course, when Hermione heard that story, she started to laugh uncontrollably, believing that Ron was making one of his famous jokes. As it soon turned out, however, Ron hadn't, so Hermione stopped laughing immediately and quickly apologized. She noted that Ron had perfected the 'Ron-death-glare' over the years she had been gone.

Ron's restaurant was located in Diagon Alley, and business was doing very well, according to him. Hermione didn't have a hard time believing that, since she couldn't deny that Ron seemed to have become a fantastic cook. The dinner he had prepared was absolutely delicious.

She then also learned that Ginny was now living in Romania with her husband, who was a dragon tamer, and her two children. She was now expecting again and therefore couldn't travel, but was sending her love to Hermione.

Dean had married Luna, who had taken over 'The Quibbler' after her father's retirement, and both had a 17-year-old son named Michael (who was still very nervous around Ron) together.

Neville, now Herbology Professor at Hogwarts, was happily married to Hannah Abbott, the new owner of the Leaky Cauldron. He was still feeling very guilty about what had happened at the Ministry, and was pretty much apologizing every time he addressed Hermione. He and Hannah had two boys who hadn't started at Hogwarts yet.

George had eloped with Angelina Johnson and had a son, who was working with him at Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. Hermione's boyfriend Viktor ("Now, ex-boyfriend," she reminded herself with a heavy heart), she was told by Harry, was currently coaching the Falmouth Falcons and his children were enrolled at Hogwarts as well.

So much had happened and changed after she had disappeared and Hermione knew that it was definitely going to take a while for her to get used to all this, but she was happy to say that she felt more calm and relaxed now. While it indeed felt strange to be around her friends, who were now so much older than her, she was relieved that they still treated her same way they used to – although perhaps a tad more appreciatively, but not overly annoyingly so.

While the dinner with her friends had been nice, one thing that Hermione could have lived without, were Lavender's not so subtle attempts to try and set Hermione up with her son. ("Don't you think Hermione looks nice in this dress, Sirius? ...Hermione, could you get that? Sirius will help you, of course ...No, no, you're sitting next to Hermione, Sirius.") Hermione hit off with Harry's eldest, a sandy blond version of said person, minus the glasses, right away, but didn't appreciate Lavender's matchmaking attempts at all. In fact, they made her and Sirius both quite uncomfortable. It seemed, however, that everyone else found the squirming couple funny as they kept chuckling whenever Lavender would say something to try and bring the two closer together.

Apart from that Hermione had a good time and now felt a lot more at ease with her new situation, knowing that she had friends and family to support her. She was grateful that she was blessed with so many great people in her life. She was a lot more ready for the things that were to come now.

* * *

A/N: Next chapter will be at Hogwarts.

This chapter was betaed by Being A Wallflower (formerly 'Hermione's Evil Twin').


	4. Chapter 4: Of Otters and Other Things

A/N: I know some of the couples from last chapter were rather unusual. Well, what can I say? I'm not a big fan of the canon pairings. So I thought I'd grant Ron his wish and let him have his Veela. As for Harry... at first I had planned to pair him up with Luna, but decided against it, because I like her better with Dean. I guess most people would have Harry with Ginny, but considering that I don't particularly like her character, I made her live all the way in Romania, so I wouldn't have to bother about her. Originally, I wanted her even farther away, like Timbuktu, but couldn't come up with a good reason why she would be there, hahaha. Anyway, so I thought: 'Why not Lavender with Harry?' Yes, she may have her ditzy moments, but I still think she's a very likable character. Plus, I like unusual couples.

But enough with my waffle and on with the story!

* * *

Chapter 4: Of Otters and Other Things

* * *

"You lot heard the news yet?" Theo Nott II asked as he plopped down on the sofa, joining the round that included his friends Scott Pucey, Flint Smith, Scorpius Malfoy and Nathan Davies in the Slytherin common room. He had just received a letter from home with some rather _interesting_ news that he thought he should share with them.

"What news?" Flint replied, tearing his eyes away from the magazine he was reading, to look at his friend.

Theo grinned. "Glad you asked, Flint. Well, as you all know, my mother is a member of the School Committee..."

"Yeah, so?" Flint interrupted, rolling his eyes and turning his attention back to his reading.

Theo gave his friend a hard glare (which went unnoticed) and tried to resist the strong urge to whack him on the back of the head for always interrupting him. Flint's habit was not only annoying, but … rude, in Theo's opinion. A few hits on the back of the head could only benefit Flint; however, Theo then thought better of it and decided to let it go.

He sighed deeply before continuing, "And as a School Committee member, she also deals with the acceptance of new Hogwarts students. Guess who will be joining us next wee-"

"Mate, just cut the crap with the 'You have three guesses' and just tell us," came the impatient reply from who else? The interrupter, of course.

"All right, all right, no need to get all annoyed!" Theo grumbled. Here he was to tell his friends the big news, and they were being total arses to him!

"Well, gentlemen, it seems that the famous Miss Hermione Granger will be joining us at Hogwarts to finish her education!" he announced with a big grin on his face and was delighted to see how this news seemed to have stunned his friends.

Much like everyone else, they all had followed the news of Hermione Granger's sudden reappearance. The Daily Prophet had even dedicated a special section to the life (and love life - much to Hermione's dismay) of Hermione Granger, running it for a whole week. The stories covered everything from her Muggle background, her achievements at Hogwarts, her part in the British Wizarding War to, of course, her relationships with 'The Boy Who Lived' (her _supposed_ relationship) and former Quidditch star Viktor Krum.

"You're kidding!" Scott answered Theo, still not believing it.

"Nope," Theo replied, popping the 'p', still grinning widely at them. He had a hard time believing it himself at first, but then his mother would hardly lie to him, now, would she?

"Why on _earth_ would she want to do that? I can think of tons of things I'd do, if I turned up somewhere in the future. And going back to school wouldn't be one of them," Scorpius wondered out loud, his friends nodding in agreement.

"Beats me too, mate," Theo answered, shrugging, picking up Flint's Quidditch magazine and skimming through it.

"So, the war hero is coming to Hogwarts, huh? This is bound to be interesting," Nathan commented and went to grill Theo for more information, which Theo was only happy to share.

Yes, very interesting indeed.

* * *

Hermione arrived at Hogwarts the next Sunday at noon. She was glad to finally be back at Hogwarts: it meant having her life go somewhat back to normality and back to a familiar routine. Hermione liked her life being in order.

She now sat in her dormitory, unpacking. It was only moments before that she had had the pleasure of meeting her roommates Isabelle, Hannah and Rose - Ron's eldest daughter. Unlike the rest of the Weasleys, Rose was rather on the short side and had hair that was more of a strawberry blond than red. She had, however, inherited her father's blue eyes and freckles. Hermione immediately took to Rose. She was a well-mannered, friendly and likeable girl. Hermione was positive that they could become good friends. Her two other roommates also seemed like people Hermione would most likely get along with well.

Isabelle Wood was a quieter person and very much like Hermione, a studious girl, which came with being Head Girl, after all. To Hermione's relief, Isabelle was not obsessed with Quidditch like her father had been.

Then there was Hannah, of course... Hermione wasn't sure what to think of her exactly. Hannah, the daughter of Harry's second 'stalker', Dennis Creevey… Hermione only hoped that Hannah didn't share her father's tendency to idolize famous people and go around snapping pictures. Hannah did seem quite normal in all, but you never knew. Hermione was sure that she had detected that same admiring stare Dennis and Colin had always had. Other than that, her new roommate seemed to be a perfectly nice girl, albeit being a bit too chatty, maybe.

Lunch that day was a quiet affair. Older students had, of course, noticed the new student who seemed their age, although they didn't recognize her. She looked very familiar for some reason, but the students still couldn't quite place their finger on from where they knew her. Hermione had given herself a pat on the shoulder more than once for that. It definitely paid off to be a bright person!

After witnessing the media circus around her, Hermione had immediately sat down and thought of different plans of how to avoid this unwanted attention when she was back in school. She figured that the best way to help her lie low would be to alter her appearance just slightly**.** So instead of her naturally curly hair, straight hair it now was. It was a simple trick with a great effect. Hermione had hardly even recognized herself the first time she had looked into the mirror.

Everything worked out great - that was, until a 5th-year at the Gryffindor table loudly announced at dinner that Hermione Granger was sitting 'at the end of the table next to the Head Girl and Rose Weasley'.

* * *

"Today class, I would like to cover the subject matter of the Patronus charm with you. I know that Patronuses are usually not covered in school, but I believe that learning how to produce a Patronus can only benefit you. So first of all, can anyone here explain what a Patronus is and what its uses are?"

One hand shot up immediately.

"Yes, Miss Granger?"

Hermione sat up a little straighter and began to recite the facts she remembered from her Defence Against the Dark Arts book, "The Patronus Charm is a charm that is conjured by a caster's positive memory or thought and the incantation 'Expecto Patronum'. A Patronus shields and protects from Dementors or Lethifolds and obeys to commands given by the conjurer. If no longer required the Patronus will fade away.

"The Patronus Charm can also be used to deliver messages. In comparison to other forms of message delivery, the Patronus is known to be one of the most effective forms, as neither physical obstructions nor dark creatures can hinder it.

"The form of a Patronus can range from bursts of silvery mist, or poorly-defined forms that are easily defeated or quickly dissolve, or corporeal Patronuses, which take on the form of an animal that is often meaningful to the caster. The original form of a Patronus may also change after an event that is significant to the conjurer."

"Very good, Miss Granger. 5 points to Gryffindor. Now remember, class: Think of a positive memory or positive thought, focus, and then say the incantation 'Expecto Patronum'. Don't worry if you don't succeed on your first tries. Sometimes even very gifted wizards and witches have problems with this spell."

* * *

Hermione focused on her happy memory and said the incantation. Almost instantly, her silver otter shot out of the tip of her wand and began to frolic around the classroom. Hermione earned several 'ooohs' and 'aaahs' for this feat from her impressed classmates.

When she looked around to see how her classmates were faring, she found that all were able to at least produce a silvery spark or mist, but there were also two students - a pixie-haired girl from Hufflepuff and a tall blond boy from Slytherin - who had also been able to cast a corporal Patronus like her.

Hermione watched the Hufflepuff's eagle owl twirl around its owner, spreading its wings proudly, whereas the Slytherin's Patronus had decided to strut over towards Hermione's otter curiously.

* * *

The two otters observed each other carefully for a while before they started to nudge the other playfully. Hermione had to say that it was a rather adorable sight and it seemed that many fellow students agreed with her on that topic. Many stopped what they were doing and watched the two playful otters instead.

The 'adorable' display did, however, soon turn into something very different. Something that in no way could be classified as sweet or adorable. The behaviour of the otters had turned downright outrageous!

* * *

Hermione's stared at the silver animals in horror, her eyes growing as wide as saucers and her face going as red as a tomato. When she turned to look at the Slytherin boy, she saw that his reaction wasn't very different from hers. Much like herself, he looked like he wished the ground would swallow him up already.

Unlike the two of them, however, the rest of the class, even the Professor, thought the naughty otters were the most hilarious thing ever and were howling with laughter. Hermione supposed that she would have found the situation a little but funny too, if it hadn't been her Patronus involved here, but unfortunately for her, it was.

"Stop it! Stop, right now! Get off my otter, you... you... _otter_!" Hermione screeched desperately, before mentally slapping herself for coming up with something so lame. Insulting an otter as an otter? Oh, how witty...

In hope that maybe someone else knew how to deal with a situation better, Hermione turned to address the Slytherin boy. "YOU! Do something! Make your otter stop … defiling my poor otter!"

The boy merely gave her a blank look and replied calmly, "I can't see how. They seem to enjoy what they're doing too much."

That comment made everyone crack up even more.

Hermione huffed. The saying 'If you want to get things done, do it yourself' couldn't be more true here. "Oi, you two! I order you to stop _right now_!" Hermione tried to order the Patronuses, but to no avail.

"Argh, this is all _your fault_!" Hermione accused the Slytherin angrily, pointing at him.

"_My fault?_ If this is anyone's fault, then it's _your_ damn otter's fault for being such a _hussy_ and _seducing_ my poor otter!" he spat back, feeling quite outraged. The nerve of this girl to blame him! He wasn't going to allow this faulty accusation!

Hermione gasped. Hussy? HUSSY? She must've not been hearing correctly! Oh, this boy was going _down_! How dare he accuse her, well not exactly her, but her Patronus, of being a _hussy_?

"Listen up, you pr-," Hermione began to say, however was cut off by the Professor before she could throw her verbal attack back at her insolent classmate.

"Now, now, children. No need to start a fight and throw insults here. We're all civilized people. And... aah, they've stopped! See, no problem anymore!" their Defence Against the Dark Arts professor said happily, trying to intermediate between her students, but had a slip up and snorted, for she couldn't restrain the laughter that was bubbling up inside her again. It took her a few attempts to speak normally again.

"Well, as amusing as that was, I think we should continue with class now! As for you two, Miss Granger and Mister Malfoy," the Professor looked at them as she adjusted her glasses, amusement still present in her eyes, "You may go and to try help your classmates with their difficulties."

Without another word to each other, Hermione and the Slytherin both went off in different directions, their noses stuck up in the air. A few sniggers could still be heard from around the room.

"Malfoy? So that's the Ferret's spawn, huh? _Figures_," Hermione grumbled under her breath as she discreetly observed him from her corner of the room. She supposed that the boy did indeed hold somewhat resemblance to the obnoxious Draco Malfoy, his blond hair for starters. It was not as white blond, but still a very light shade. His face also wasn't as pointy, but rounder and his eyes were more of a blue than grey. Overall quite handsome, but seemingly just as much of a prat as his father. What a pity.

* * *

Hermione sighed deeply and started to collect her things. She had always been annoyed for being known as the brainy girl, the war hero, Harry Potter's other best friend (if not his 'sidekick'). Not that being called smart and a 'hero' wasn't flattering, no, but it got old after a while.

Knowing how things in Hogwarts worked, however, the Patronus incident was most likely to spread like a wildfire.

"Well, at least I won't merely be known for those things anymore. Now, I'll probably be known as the girl with the naughty Patronus otter," she thought sarcastically.

What a way to start a new school year, and so much for lying low!

* * *

A/N: Many thanks to Being A Wallflower for proofreading this chapter. :)


	5. Chapter 5: It's So Comfy!

A/N: This chapter was proofread by my beta Being A Wallflower.

* * *

Chapter 5: It's So Comfy!

* * *

The rest of the week went by uneventfully. Hermione received several letters from her friends and family, who inquired about her well-being and about how she was adjusting. Their letters, especially Harry's and Ron's, were very sweet. However, she couldn't fight the urge to roll her eyes at the part where they - probably on Ron's insistence - advised her to keep distance from 'all those horny teenage boys', to focus on her studies and not let anything or anyone distract her.

Pfft! As if she would ever focus on something like that instead of her studies – really!

Rose, who had been reading the letter over Hermione's shoulder, immediately took this as an opening to complain about how her father had scared away her ex-boyfriend Michael. Her little sister Clémentine and Lilly started sniggering gleefully when they heard the ranting, making Hermione briefly wonder about what Ron had done. However, she quickly concluded that it was probably best not to know.

In her reply letters Hermione updated everyone briefly and also happily agreed to Harry's suggestion to meet up with him and Ron on the upcoming Hogsmeade trip in three weeks.

The Defence Against Dark Arts lessons were still somewhat awkward for Hermione as they still carried on with the previous topic. It wasn't long before every student managed to conjure a corporeal Patronus, with some students even succeeding in delivering messages with their animal. Hermione unfortunately didn't count as one of them as she refused to cast her Patronus while the other otter was present.

The bold silver animal had even once approached and looked at her expectantly, but Hermione had only shaken her head at it, letting it know that there wouldn't be any frisky-otter-time for him today. The otter had left her looking very disappointed at that and the slumped posture and sad attitude almost made Hermione feel bad for being such a spoilsport. _Almost._

* * *

The celebration party in the common room over the victory of the Gryffindor Quidditch team against Ravenclaw was loud and stuffy and Hermione was slowly but surely beginning to feel the effects of the alcohol. It always astounded her how students managed to smuggle alcohol into school without getting caught.

Deciding that she had enough of the party and had socialized enough, Hermione made her way out of the common room to catch some fresh air and to send off some mail. She didn't see any more reason to stay at the party any longer as her roommates had somehow mysteriously disappeared, even though they had been sitting with her just a while ago.

* * *

Hermione exited the secret passage and carefully walked down the corridor, trying not to make too much noise. It would be more than embarrassing to get caught by a prefect or a teacher after curfew like this! All the more so since she wasn't entirely sober.

Still, it seemed like some students didn't share Hermione's notion on being sneaky and quiet as she heard a distant, but still fairly noisy laughing and giggling coming from around the corner. Quick as a cat, Hermione slid into a nearby alcove as she really didn't feel like getting caught and receiving detention. Those dunderheads were not going to drag her into any of their mess.

"Oomph! This thing is so_ heavy_!" Hermione heard a female voice complain.

"Hey, this was your idea!" another female voice answered, the words slightly slurred, causing Hermione to conclude that she was dealing with fellow Gryffindors here.

"Come on, let's keep going," the first voice urged on.

"Ok_-ay_, Miss Head Girl!" came the response that was soon followed by gleeful laughter that echoed down the nearby corridors.

Hermione remained hidden in her alcove as the shadows drew nearer. The girls were obviously more than just a little drunk. They were completely smashed. Hermione just hoped they weren't coming her way and cause her get caught along with them.

"Kids these days," she muttered to herself and shook her head. "Better be going now..."

Then something that one of the girls said hit Hermione and had her stopping mid-step. Hadn't one of the girls called the other _Head Girl_?!

Hermione stepped out of the shadow and into the view of the girls and she was definitely not amused with what she found.

"Hannah! Isabelle! What are you doing?" Hermione asked as she stared at the two girls who were carrying a huge, cushy-looking armchair in confusion. What on earth were those two doing with that thing?

"Oh, hello there, Hermione! Beautiful night, isn't it?" the Head Girl greeted her politely and then cooed, "Oooooh Hannah, I love this armchair!"

"Hi. What are you two doing?" Hermione repeated, looking pointedly at them while gesturing at the armchair. She had a really bad feeling about this.

"Oh, we're just carrying this armchair, we stole out of the teachers' room, to bring it back our common room," her other roommate explained nonchalantly, looking quite pleased with herself.

"You _broke into_ in the teachers' room and _stole_ their furniture?" Hermione gasped, appalled at her friends' behaviour.

This was not good.

"I wouldn't exactly call it stealing. It's more of a thing of relocation, really," Isabelle replied and both she and Hannah shared a look before breaking into a fit of giggles.

No, this was _not_ good _at all_.

"Are you crazy? You lot might get _expelled_ for this! Isabelle, you're Head Girl! This is no way for a Head Girl to behave! You should really be ashamed of yourself! You're supposed to set an example!" Hermione reprimanded the girl and also shot a glare at the other fellow Gryffindor, who had made herself comfortable in the armchair without a care for the world.

After being scolded by her roommate, Isabelle did indeed look ashamed, which made Hermione feel a little guilty for being so harsh. Her guilt didn't last for very long, however, as Isabelle suddenly started laughing again and went to drape herself over Hannah on the armchair.

"But this is so funny!"

Hermione pinched the bridge of her nose. One would think that girls would be more sensible and responsible than boys, but these two were just as irresponsible as Harry and Ron had been. Something needed to be done. And fast.

"Okay, now. This is what we are going to do: We'll take the chair back to the teachers' room and then go back to the party in our common room and pretend as if none of this has ever happened. Capeesh?" Hermione told the two with a stern voice.

Her idea, however, was not well received by everyone.

"_Awww, but Hermione_! We've carried the armchair _all the way_ from the teachers' room up here. We can't just bring it back there now! Not after all the hard work we've done! And look how comfy it is! So much more comfy than the ones we have in our common room!" Hannah tried to convince Hermione and pouted at her. To put emphasis on her words, Hannah started to pat the cushions of the armchair just to show Hermione how 'comfy' their armchair was.

Hermione had to admit that her roommate did have a point there. It _was_ a really long way from the teachers' room and they _were_ almost at their common room and the armchair _did indeed_ look very inviting. Hermione could already see herself all snuggled up in it, reading a good book. Maybe she could let her friends' behaviour slide just this once.

"All right. Let's do that then. Now, get up," Hermione ordered as she went up to the girls to help carry the furniture.

However, she was stopped by Hannah, who held up one hand. "No, no, we got this..."

"Err … are you sure?" Hermione asked, eyeing both girls sceptically.

"Yes," Hannah answered confidently. "We have everything under control."

Isabelle nodded her head like a bobbing head doll, agreeing to what her friend told Hermione.

"If you're sure..."

"Yes, we are," Hannah confirmed again.

* * *

Hermione wasn't entirely convinced that it was a good idea to let the girls deal with this by themselves, seeing how wobbly both were on their feet; but despite her bad feeling, Hermione let them do their thing anyway. Drunken people had their own logic, so it was fruitless to reason with them.

So she stood there, watching them from a safe distance as they began to carry their armchair up the staircase. It was still a mystery to Hermione, how Hannah and Isabelle had managed to carry the armchair this far. The thing looked _awfully heavy_! Oh well, she should never underestimate the abilities of drunk people!

"Whoa, slow down there or I'll drop ..." the Head Girl then suddenly exclaimed, trying to warn her roommate. However, the warning came too late and a chain of reactions began to unfold.

Not being able to move the stairs up as fast as Hannah, Isabelle lost grip on the armchair, dropping her side to the stairs. Hannah, not being able to carry the heavy thing all on her own, immediately dropped the armchair as well - and _that_ was their doom as the armchair started to slide down the long staircase with a lightning speed.

"Oh shit!"

Yes. Oh shit, indeed.

"We have to stop this thing!"

As soon as those words were said, the three of them sprinted down the stairs, trying to catch up with their 'doom' - however, luck wasn't on their side. The armchair was sliding down the stairs much too fast for them to stop it.

It was too late. The armchair had almost reached the end of the stairs and was about to crash into the opposite wall with a big bang...

* * *

While all this was happening, an unsuspecting Slytherin Head Boy was patrolling the halls nearby. Normally, the Head Girl would have accompanied him, but since the Gryffindors were celebrating their Quidditch team's victory over Ravenclaw (something that rarely ever happened since the Gryffindor team kind of sucked), he had graciously offered to do the patrol alone, so she could go to the party. He now regretted it a little. Patrolling alone was so boring and tonight had been a rather quiet night, too. He'd only caught two Hufflepuffs snogging in the Astronomy Tower.

The Head Boy shook his head as he thought back to the couple. Didn't these people ever learn? If you wanted somewhere private, then you chose a less obvious place and _not_ the Astronomy Tower. Tsk. Amateurs.

Anyway, thankfully, he now only had two more corridors left and his boring patrol would finally be over!

_Yes_!

Then, just when the Head Boy was about to walk around the corner, a loud noise could be heard from the opposite direction that he was heading. From what he could tell, some girls were yelling about something.

So, being the dutiful Head Boy that he was, the Slytherin made a turn and jogged towards the source of noise. Yes, he would go and look into their problem and give those rule breakers detentions. One, for making such a racket and two, for being out after curfew.

He hurried his steps and was just about to reprimand the riots when he arrived at the 'crime scene', when he was suddenly struck hard by something and immediately slipped into unconsciousness...

* * *

"Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God! We _killed_ him! _We killed the Head Boy!_" Isabelle whispered, anxiously looking at her fellow Head Student, who was sandwiched between the wall and the armchair and was now being pulled out by a worried-looking Hermione.

She worriedly watched as her friend bent over the unmoving Slytherin to check him for a pulse and any visible injuries.

"No, he's not dead. Malfoy is 'just' unconscious. Probably has a concussion, too," Hermione reassured the distraught Head Girl, when she finally found a pulse and let out a big sigh of relief.

Hannah, who had been silent during this whole ordeal, felt that this was the moment where she should state the obvious. "We are in_ such_ big trouble, girls."

Hermione sat down on the cold stone floor next to the unconscious boy and bit her lower lip. Yes, they were indeed in big trouble and she had no clue about how she and her friends could get out of this mess. The fact that Isabelle was looking absolutely terrified and close to fainting wasn't helping either. Hermione just hoped that Isabelle would somehow manage to keep herself together, because Hermione doubted that she'd be able to handle another unconscious person. One was enough, thank you very much.

"He needs to go to the Hospital Wing. Come on. I'll take his arms and you take the legs," Hermione eventually decided and motioned for Hannah to come over and help her.

"But what about our armch-" the honey-blonde haired girl began to protest before she was cut off by an irritated Hermione.

"Hannah, who cares about that stupid furniture? We have another priority now!"

"But..."

"Hannah," Hermione told her warningly at which the other girl sighed in defeat.

"Okay."

They went over to the boy and were about to hoist him up, when they suddenly heard him groan and noticed how he started to move.

It seemed like the Head Boy was finally regaining consciousness again.

* * *

Scorpius woke up with a murderous headache. What the fuck had just happened?

Slowly he started to remember: He had been walking down the corridor to check on something, when he had suddenly been run over by a HUGE armchair!

Oh, the culprits were _so_ going to get it!

* * *

"He's... he's waking up! Everybody RUN!" Hannah yelled at the top of her lungs and both she and Isabelle ran as fast as their feet could take them, leaving an aghast Hermione behind with the injured Slytherin.

"Oh those... those...ARRRGH!"

Hermione couldn't believe the gall of her friends. How could they leave her to deal with this mess all alone?

She wanted to go on venting about them, but couldn't find the words to describe those traitors appropriately. How dare they run off like that? In a way she understood for she all but wanted to be here, but she couldn't exactly leave the poor boy all by himself, could she? This was after all somewhat her fault, too.

"Careful. I think you may have a concussion. Do you think you can sit up?" she asked the boy gently.

Scorpius, who was trying to find his orientation again, blinked a couple of times and nodded. With Hermione's assistance, he sat up slowly.

When he started to feel better, he whipped his head in Hermione's direction.

"You and your friends are in deep _shit_!" he threatened, his eyes narrowed to slits.

This comment caused Hermione to narrow her eyes as well. "Excuse me, Mister. I'm just trying to help here!"

Scorpius stared unbelievingly at her.

"Help? HELP? You and your friends just attacked me with a ruddy armchair!" Scorpius screamed at her.

They had almost killed him and now she was talking about how she was just trying to help him? If crushing people with furniture was her way of helping people, then he'd rather not receive any of her help, thank you.

"It wasn't my fault you got hit. Apparently Hannah and Isabelle thought it was funny to steal armchairs from the teachers' room and bring them back to our common room!" Hermione quickly defended herself.

Hell, there was no way she was going down alone. If she was going down, then she'd take those traitors with her! Oh yes!

* * *

Scorpius sat there, listening to the girl's rant over how this entire situation wasn't her fault and her plans to kill Wood and Creevey. Her plans on how she planned on murdering them were quite creative, but were also starting to scare him a little.

After a while he had had enough of her ranting.

"Oh shut it already! You're just making my headache worse!"

That comment did indeed shut her up immediately. Her head snapped up and she looked at him fearfully. Tears welled up in her eyes.

When Scorpius saw this, he began to feel slightly panicked. Fuck no. She wasn't going to start crying, was she? He really, really hoped not, because he couldn't deal with an emotional girl right now. Besides, if there was anyone in this hall that had the right to cry, then it was him, considering all the pain he had to suffer through tonight.

Not that he was planning on crying or anything, but her reaction still annoyed him.

"Just get up and help me," Scorpius told her calmly as he stood up, wincing as he felt the effects of being crushed by a heavy armchair.

Hermione sniffed, but wasted no time and stood up quickly and made her way over to him to assist him walking.

"W-what do you think you're doing?" Scorpius stuttered, when her arm unexpectantly snaked around his back. What was Granger doing? Was she trying to feel him up or something? Not that he particularly minded. She was looking rather pretty after all.

"Helping you walk, what else?" she replied and looked at him equally confused. She didn't understand why he was suddenly complaining. Hadn't he just asked her to help him seconds ago?

"I was talking about the armchair. I've decided to keep it, so you're going to help me carry it to the Slytherin common room," Scorpius explained while looking at her as if she were stupid for not knowing something so _obvious_.

"What? NO!" Hermione immediately yelled back at him.

"What do you mean by '_no'_? I don't think you're in a position to refuse here, considering you and your friends maimed me with an armchair! So helping me carry the blasted thing to my common room is the least thing you can do! I believe I'm letting you off the hook rather easily with that. You know, for a stunt like the one you lot pulled tonight, you would normally be expelled from school and convicted for assault or something!"

Hermione looked at Scorpius with wide eyes after this rant and hurriedly helped him. He was right - she should be thankful that Mister Ferret Jr. wasn't going to rat her and her friends out, but was merely asking (or well, _demanding_) her to help him with the armchair.

So help him she did.

* * *

A/N: Do you guys know Toby Hemingway? He's what I imagine Scorpius to look like.


	6. Chapter 6: The One Where Scor Scores

A/N: My very fantastic beta (who changes her pen name very often), Hope Is A Beautiful Thing (formerly Being A Wallflower; formerly Hermione's Evil Twin), proofread this chapter. Many thanks to her!

* * *

Chapter 6: The One Where Scor Scores and About Fish and the Sea

* * *

Hermione felt like she was going to collapse any moment. She was exhausted and her arms and her back were killing her. They had been carrying that blasted armchair through half of the castle for at least forty minutes and were now somewhere in the dungeons. She only hoped that the Slytherin common room was nearby.

"Granger, we're here," the Head Boy announced, nodding at the bare wall next to a large portrait of Salazar Slytherin that eyed Hermione with great suspicion.

"Thank God!" Hermione exclaimed, feeling extremely relieved. If she hadn't been so sore, she probably would have done a happy dance right there and then.

"Veni, vidi, vici," Scorpius rasped out quietly while wiping the sweat off his damp forehead.

As soon as the words were said, the bricks of the stone wall began to move aside, revealing the secret passageway to the Slytherin common room for them to enter.

* * *

Okay, so why was he insisting on having that armchair in his room again? Oh yeah, right: "I don't want people sitting in my armchair."

Really - boys.

Anyway … this was the explanation as to why they were currently struggling with the heavy furniture, twisting and turning it, so it would fit through the entirety of the too narrow staircase that lead to the boys' dormitories. Hermione's hopes that the torture was finally over had been terribly crushed with Malfoy's sudden change of mind and she had almost to burst into tears out of frustration. However, she knew that becoming a weepy mess wouldn't have helped the situation, so she abided to his change of plans without (many) complaints. Because the faster they got the armchair in his room, the sooner she would be free to leave.

Seven minutes later, when Hermione and Scorpius had somehow managed to work their way halfway up the stairs, an unexpected realisation hit Hermione. It made her want to smack herself silly. She couldn't believe that she hadn't realised sooner!

Feeling very angry at herself, Hermione huffed loudly and let go of the armchair without thinking, making Scorpius lose his balance and almost topple off the stairs.

"_What the hell, woman!?_ Why the hell did you do that for? Couldn't you have _warned me_?" Scorpius snapped, glaring furiously at Hermione.

"I'm a witch, and you're a wizard," Hermione stated calmly, ignoring his question entirely.

"Oh really? I wouldn't have guessed," Scorpius retorted in mock surprise before ordering, "Now, grab onto your end and help me! And _don't_ let go again!"

Hermione only rolled her eyes at him and made no move to help him.

"Don't you know what this means?" she asked in the same calm manner as before.

"No, but I figure you'll tell me anyway," Scorpius answered, the irritation still obvious in his voice. Honestly; women could be such a bother!

Hermione nodded. "We are _magical_ folk. We can use _magic_. We can _levitate_ the armchair," she stressed, watching his reaction closely.

* * *

There was a long, uncomfortable silence after that statement.

Scorpius couldn't believe it.

They. Were. Fucking. Idiots.

How could they have forgotten about magic? They could have avoided all this physical labour by simply transporting the chair by magic! The longer Scorpius thought about it, the more upset he became. At this moment he just wanted to scream and break something.

"Um, Malfoy? You okay there?" Hermione finally dared to ask as she observed him worriedly. That boy was going through a whole world of emotions right now - that much could be said for sure. So, for safety reasons, Hermione had taken a couple of steps up the staircase to increase the distance. Better safe than sorry, they say.

In the meanwhile Scorpius closed his eyes and took some deep calming breaths. "Yes, just marvellous."

"Uh, well then…" Hermione began to say, but was cut off by Scorpius, who had finally lost it.

"_Why have you not thought of this sooner_?"

Hermione's eyes narrowed.

"Oh, excuse me," she bit back sarcastically. "Maybe I was worried? Ever thought of that? But yes, it sure would have been more convenient, if I had had this realisation sooner. Although it's not like you had thought of it either."

Scorpius scoffed. "I have an excuse! I was viciously attacked and am still suffering from the consequence! You, on the other hand…"

Hermione threw her hands up in annoyance.

"Alright, alright, I'll take the blame for everything!" she conceded. This boy was really testing her patience, and his next retort certainly didn't help to make her feel any calmer.

"You should."

Hermione clenched her fists and willed herself to take a few deep breaths. Deep calming breaths to prevent herself from hitting Malfoy - even if the git would deserve it so_ very _much in Hermione's opinion. However, violence was _not_ the answer. She was going to be the bigger person in this situation!

While Hermione tried to stay composed, the Slytherin watched her curiously. He was surprised that she had managed to stay so calm, instead of bitching back like he had expected her to with that attitude she had.

"Right. Well, now that we have established that it was my entire fault, I think we should get back to business. I would like this to be over and done with," Hermione said determinately as she reached for her wand and they both went back to work.

* * *

They carefully levitated the armchair in a corner next to a bed that Hermione assumed to be Malfoy's. She was fairly surprised that when they entered the dorm room, his roommates were nowhere in sight.

"Don't you have roommates?" she wondered out loud.

Scorpius gave her a funny look. "As a matter of fact I do. Why do you want to know? Interested in a late night rendezvous with them?"

Hermione looked taken aback by this assumption.

"W-what? Ugh, no! I merely wondered where they were at this time of night," Hermione answered with a frown.

Scorpius merely shrugged his shoulders in response and plopped down on his newly acquired armchair. Ah, that felt _good_!

"Scott and Flint are probably over at Theo and Nathan's room," he explained lazily.

Hermione nodded and they both sat in the room in silence for a while until Hermione decided to say something to end the awkwardness. "Um, I should probably be going now."

Scorpius nodded. "Okay. I'll walk you out."

"Oh, you don't have to. You should really rest. That head is not going to get better with you walking around. I still think we should have gone to the Hospital Wing instead of heading straight here."

Scorpius waved her concerns off and stood up to walk ahead to open the door for her. Even if this girl had maimed him with a huge piece of furniture, he still had manners. His mother had been very adamant about raising him to be a gentleman.

He opened the door widely, but then shut it just as quickly as he had opened it. Hermione, who had not anticipated this action, walked straight into the shut door with a loud bang.

"_OUCH_! What the hell was that for?" she yelped, clutching her forehead.

Scorpius tried very hard to hold back his laughter. That had just looked too funny! He coughed quickly to hide his amusement.

"There are people in the common room," Scorpius stated as calmly as he could.

"So?" Hermione demanded, now rubbing the sore forehead. Damn, that had _hurt_!

"Jocelyn and her little friends are down there. Trust me, you don't want to go down there just yet. Well, unless you don't mind one of the biggest gossipers of Hogwarts seeing you walking down the staircase that leads to the boys' dorms, then be my guest," Scorpius explained.

"Oh."

"Yeah."

"I guess I'll stay a while and wait until they leave," Hermione decided meekly. Being seen sneaking out some boys' dorm room at night was not something she wanted people to talk about. She would wait until the coast was clear.

So the two of them sat in the room in awkward silence. Again.

"So, um, how do you like Hogwarts?" Scorpius asked, trying to make conversation.

"Well, it's not so different from my time. Schoolwork is the same. So, I suppose I like it just fine. Although it definitely feels strange to be here, with all the new people. In a way I have to practically start all over again. Not so much in the scholar aspect but, you know, having to make new friends and such.

"I still need time to adjust to everything. So many things I knew have changed, so I guess it's only natural to feel out of place sometimes. But all in all I'm doing fine," Hermione answered while Scorpius nodded understandingly.

"Are you on the Slytherin Quidditch team?" Hermione then decided to ask to keep the conversation going and pointed at an emerald green jersey on the floor.

Scorpius shook his head.

"No, not anymore. I played last year as a Chaser, but decided to quit when I got Head Boy. Would've been a bit much responsibility this year. But I still play with the guys for fun sometimes. Usually when someone on the team is ill or when they need players for practice. Flint is on the team, though - captain no less. A Quidditch fan yourself? Do you play?"

"Not really. I do like watching matches from time to time, but wouldn't call myself a fan. As for playing myself, well, I never tried. I have acrophobia and therefore am very glad that we only had to take flying lessons in our first year," Hermione replied, to which Scorpius chuckled.

They continued talking about random topics such as their hobbies and what they wanted to do once school was over. Hermione was surprised at how civil their conversation was, considering they had been at each other's throats not that long ago.

When Hermione was about to ask Scorpius about what he was going to do in the holidays, Scorpius' roommates, Scott and Flint entered the room. Both boys had been in a lively discussion, however stopped talking immediately when they saw Hermione sitting on a bed and chatting with their friend. To say they were surprised at this sight would've been quite an understatement. Their eyes almost popped out of their sockets at the sight of the unexpected visitor. However it didn't take very long until the boys recovered from their shock.

"Well, if it isn't the lovely Miss Granger," Scott said with a wide grin. "It's surely very nice to see you here."

"Um, hello Pucey," Hermione answered shyly as a light blush began to creep up her cheeks.

"Oh, please do call me Scott - or whatever else you'd like to call me, love," the forward Slytherin replied, looking her up and down which caused Hermione to blush even more.

"Alright, Scott."

"Granger, don't mind that idiot. Scott, stop staring at her like a creep. You're making her uncomfortable," the other roommate interrupted the conversation. "I'm Flint Smith by the way."

"Yes, I know," Hermione answered, giving him a little smile. "It was very nice meeting you two, but I think I'll best be off. The gossiping girls downstairs are probably gone now. Have a good night."

"Oh, I think I will have a good night after your lovely visit. Although, I certainly know that Scor here already had a very good night," Scott replied and was immediately hit by an object, thrown at him by the Head Boy.

"Scott you f-"

Hermione didn't get to hear what Malfoy thought Pucey was. She had dashed out of the room to avoid any more awkward and embarrassing moments. Pucey was such a pervert! How dare he insinuate things like that? She would have hexed him, but she was sure that Malfoy and maybe Smith would take care of that. Best to leave before this got any more embarrassing!

* * *

Hermione silently sneaked into the bathroom, trying not to wake her roommates. While reaching for her towel, she took a quick glance at the full-length-mirror and had to gasp when she saw her own reflection.

No wonder Malfoy's roommate made those comments and waggled his eyebrows at her! Her clothes were dishevelled, her hair was all over the place and she was all sweaty! Not to mention the Head Boy, who had been in the exact same state! They looked like they had just finished having a roll in the sheets together!

Hermione groaned. Why did these embarrassing things keep happening to her? Especially when Malfoy was around. It was like they were attracting them like magnets whenever they were in the same room.

* * *

Flint gave Scorpius a pat on the back while Scott was still grinning at him madly. They were proud of and impressed by their friend for managing to land Hermione.

Scorpius, however, felt very torn about the whole thing. Even though his inner gentleman urged him to clear up the situation and explain that nothing his friends were assuming, had happened, his other not so gentlemanly side told him to let them believe what they wanted: that he had managed to score the new shiny toy that was called Hermione Granger.

* * *

A week had passed since the 'armchair incident' and the girl was still avoiding him. She had been doing so very obviously for the past week. Scorpius didn't know why, but it bothered him. It bothered him greatly and he came to the conclusion that he was so bothered about it because he thought that her behaviour was just plain rude. Didn't she think that he could be embarrassed, too? (Not that he was, but still.) Embarrassment was no excuse for being impolite.

That damn girl!

* * *

It was mid-December and it was finally the day of their Hogsmeade trip. Hermione had been excited all morning to finally meet up with her two best friends again. She had missed them so much! Hogwarts was not the same without them.

"Harry! Ron!" Hermione called out to her friends when she spotted them amongst the crowd outside the Three Broomsticks and wiggled her way towards them.

"Oh hey, Hermione. Didn't recognize you there with your new hairdo," Harry said brightly, tugging a strand of Hermione's hair. Unfortunately, he tugged a little too forcefully, making Hermione yelp and swat his arm. Hard.

"Sorry about that," Harry said apologetically, rubbing his arm. "But did you have to hit me back so hard? That hurt."

"I did that out of reflex, I apologize," Hermione answered sheepishly and patted him lightly on the arm. "It's so good to see you two!"

"It's very good seeing you too, Hermione," Ron told her as he enveloped her in a hug. "Come on, let's grab a seat before they're all gone."

* * *

Hermione enjoyed being reunited with her two best friends greatly. It was just like old times. Harry was currently telling her about an odd fellow in his Auror Department while Ron was intently listening to his youngest daughter. Clémentine had decided to join them for a quick Butterbeer, when she had seen them sitting there through the windows. Now she was dutifully giving her father 'reports'. Hermione couldn't entirely make out all the subjects of said reports, seeing how the chipper girl was talking in French and that really fast, but Hermione was still able to pick up a few snippets here and there. Ron, no doubt, had assigned his little girl to spy on her older sister. Judging by the look on his face, Ron seemed very pleased with what he was hearing.

"Are you friends with the Malfoy kid?" Harry suddenly asked, nodding towards his right discreetly. "He keeps looking over here, staring at you."

Hermione arched an eyebrow, but decided to check what Harry was talking about. When she turned around, Hermione found that Harry was indeed right. Scorpius Malfoy was sitting at a nearby table with his father, having lunch. However, he didn't seem very focused on what his father was saying as he was staring over to their table. When Scorpius realized that he had been caught looking, he quickly averted his eyes from her and continued listening to something his father, who didn't seem to have noticed anything, was telling him.

"Maybe he's got a thing for our Hermy here," Ron said gleefully, and his eyes sparkled with mirth.

Even though he and Harry had come to an understanding with Malfoy and were somewhat civil towards each other, Ron still couldn't exactly say that he liked the Ferret very much. So having the Ferret's son, the young and precious Malfoy Heir, crushing on their best female friend was absolutely priceless. Malfoy was certainly going to suffer from a heart attack if he found out!

Of course Ron did feel protective of Hermione, just like he did with his daughters, but this was just too good! Maybe he could push these two together. Maybe he could somehow plant the seed, the idea of her getting together with young Malfoy, in Hermione's head…

He was a man with a mission!

Hermione turned back around to face her friends.

"No, I wouldn't exactly call us friends, but we know each other, yes. He's the Head Boy and also happens to be in Rose's and my year," Hermione answered with a shrug. She wasn't planning on sharing her encounters with Scorpius Malfoy with Harry and Ron.

"Oh yes, Rose mentioned that once, I think. Heard he was a nice kid, the young Malfoy. Maybe you should become friends with him," Ron suggested and took a sip from his drink, earning looks of surprise mixed with confusion.

When he didn't get another vocal response other that an unladylike 'Huh?' from Hermione, he continued, "From what I've heard he's an excellent student. And it definitely doesn't hurt that he doesn't have the ferrety features of his father. He's a rather good-looking chap, don't you agree?"

Hermione and Harry exchanged worried looks. What on earth was Ron doing? He was acting very strange.

So not knowing what else to do, Harry leaned over and dragged the glass of Firewhiskey away from Ron.

"No more Firewhiskey for you," he explained, still looking at Ron warily and offering his mug of Butterbeer to him instead.

* * *

Draco Malfoy was having lunch at the Three Broomsticks with his son. He was very proud that Scorpius had grown up to be such an intelligent and responsible fine young man that he was. Draco was very proud to call him his son, but he supposed that pretty much any parent thought of their child that way. Still, Draco couldn't help thinking that his child was a little better than everyone else's.

Today he noticed that Scor seemed a little off as if something was bothering him.

"Scor, you seem a little distracted," Draco told his son as he carefully observed said boy's reaction to his observation.

"What? Oh, I'm sorry, father. I spaced out for a second…"

Draco arched an eyebrow. "I did notice that. What's wrong, son?"

"It's nothing," Scorpius responded as he unconsciously looked over to where Hermione was sitting, before quickly averted his gaze again. His father, however, managed to catch on.

"So this is about a girl," Malfoy Sr. concluded, looking at Scorpius in an amused manner.

He let his gaze drift over to the girl again. Draco supposed that she looked decent enough, but there was something about her that made him feel uneasy, although he couldn't quite put a finger on it. When taking an even closer look, Draco noticed the company she kept and he felt like he had been hit by a Bludger.

She was sitting with Potty and Weasel. That could only mean…

_No._ His son _could not_ be infatuated with little know-it-all Granger! He _refused_ to believe that! Slowly Draco let his gaze drift back to his teenage son, who was staring glumly at the table. Oh boy, this was worse than he had originally thought!

"Are you friends with Granger?" he probed Scorpius, hoping that the answer to his question would be a clear 'no'.

Much to Draco's irritation, his son just shrugged instead of giving him a real answer. Scorpius did that a lot, the shrugging. Sometimes Draco just wanted to shake him for doing that all the time. It was a behavioural pattern he had developed in his teen years.

"I used to go to school with her. She was in my year, too. We weren't very friendly, though. She had a quite vexing personality and a much too bossy attitude." Draco almost added 'know-it-all' before he remembered his own son being one every so often.

Scorpius looked up from the table at his father. "Really, you did? As for the bossy and vexing part, yes, I have noticed. But, I don't know… There's something about her that makes her intriguing… Not that it matters, though. She's been ignoring me lately."

"Ignoring you?"

"Yes."

"Why has she been ignoring you?"

"Oh you know, because of stuff."

"I see, stuff," Draco replied understandingly, even though he did not understand what his son meant at all by 'stuff'. Perhaps Scor would elaborate on the matter later.

"Yeah, I suppose she's angry with me," Scorpius continued and sighed. "Flint and Scott think that I got it on with her and, well, even though I did hex Scott for his suggestive comment, I didn't exactly deny anything. Guess she didn't like that. And Scott isn't exactly helping with all the eyebrow-waggling whenever she's around."

Malfoy Sr. blanched visibly at one particular part of his son's explanation. Scorpius had 'got it on' with Granger?

_Merlin help him._

When Scorpius saw his father's pale complexion, he hurriedly added, "We didn't get it on, of course. She only helped me carrying something up to my room and Flint and Scott came in later and made assumptions. So now she's avoiding me because of this and on top of that, I'm not even entirely sure, if she has even forgiven me for the otter incident - although that one couldn't really be blamed all on me… Yeah, I suppose that's pretty much it."

Now Draco could definitely see why Granger would be upset, however, what was that strange otter thing his son mentioned? Well, never mind, better try to encourage his son to forget Granger and move on.

"Son, there are other fish in the sea."

"I know father, but I don't care about other fish. I want that _particular_ fish," Scorpius stressed and had his father shaking his head at him.

Before the older Malfoy could retort anything to his son's comment, a waitress walked up to their table to take their orders.

"Good afternoon, gentlemen. May I take your order?" she asked politely.

Scorpius, whose thoughts were obviously still hung up about a certain someone, was the first to place his order. "I'll have fish, err, I mean Butterbeer and shepherd's pie, please."

Draco stared unbelievingly at his son for a second before he smiled politely at the waitress and placed his order as well. "I'll have the same, thank you."

Clearly Draco had underestimated the whole thing with his son.

_That damn Granger. _

* * *

A/N: Veni, vidi, vici = I came, I saw, I conquered.

Haha, yes, Panther Eyes, I totally have to agree with you there. ^^


	7. Chapter 7: The Good Old Days and Lurgies

Chapter 7: The Good Old Days and Lurgies

* * *

Draco walked into his study and replayed the conversation with Scorpius over in his head. He still couldn't believe what his son had admitted to him this afternoon. Honestly, how was he – or _anyone_ – ever supposed to come to terms with something like that? Out of all the people he could have liked, Scorpius had to go and like Granger!

_Hermione Granger_? _Really_?

Draco sat down heavily in the chair behind his large oak desk and mulled over his son's upbringing whilst he poured himself a drink. Where had he had gone wrong as a father? It wasn't that Draco was still bothered about the matter of blood purity (although he would have preferred a nice young lady from a nice and prestigious pureblood line for his son), but this was _Hermione Granger _they were talking about!

So of course Draco had gone to his wife about this horrible news (although he really should have known better than to count on her for emotional support and sympathy) – instead of joining him in being appalled, she just gushed about how delightful it was that her 'little scorpion' had found a girl he liked.

_Women._ Where was the loyalty?

And so here he was in his study, in the dark, brooding, alone and very unhappy. Draco longed for the good old days when his son would come up to him crying because he had been kissed by a girl and afraid that he had caught the lurgies. Draco remembered consoling the frightened child; telling him not to be afraid and that his fear of dying from lurgies was unfounded.

Yes, those had been the days, because now it unfortunately seemed like Scorpius wouldn't mind catching lurgies anymore – _Granger's lurgies_ to be exact...

However it could also simply be a phase that his son was temporarily going through; a phase that should end soon enough. After all, Scorpius was still a teenager. Draco remembered how he used to have dozens of crushes himself when he was a teenager. His son's current infatuation probably wouldn't even last that long either and was absolutely nothing to lose sleep over! This thought soothed Draco's mind and he started to relax – that is, until another evil thought entered his mind: what if the infatuation persisted? What if his son and Granger got seriously involved?

The last thought conjured a very unpleasant image into Draco's head that made him let out a strangled groan.

"Gah!"

Little snotty, bossy, blond and big-haired children running around the Malfoy Manor. Oh the _horror_!

"Draco? Is everything alright, dear?" Draco looked up to see Astoria standing in the doorway looking at him worriedly. "I heard screaming."

Draco quickly sat up straight in his seat and tried to act nonchalant.

"Screaming? You must have heard misheard," he lied and pulled Astoria, who moved to stand next to him, down onto his lap.

She looked at him thoughtfully.

"You're not still upset about what Scorpius told you, are you?" Astoria ran her fingers gently through her husband's hair.

"No." Draco answered shortly, not meeting her eye.

"You're lying," she accused.

"Maybe," Draco admitted somewhat grudgingly and Astoria frowned.

"Draco, I know you weren't best friends with the girl, but if Scorpius really likes her…"

"But it's _Granger_," Draco protested.

"That I realize. But, Draco, we're not in school anymore. It's time to let go of petty childhood grudges. I mean, you managed to let go of them with Potter and Weasley, so why not with her?"

"Because Potty and Weasel aren't my son's love interest." Oh how those thoughts made Draco shudder – Scorpius mooning over Potty and Weasel, what horrible, horrible images!

Astoria sighed. Her husband could be so bratty and it was exhausting – sometimes it felt like she had two children instead of one.

"Well, at least your son isn't gay. Not that it would make me love him any less."

Draco looked at her in outrage. His son gay? Even though he loved her to death, Draco was seriously contemplating shoving his wife off his lap, so she'd fall flat on the ground for that comment.

But instead Draco just pulled her closer, took another sip from his drink and sighed heavily. He had been doomed with a sinister fate!

* * *

"Ron, what was that all about at the Three Broomsticks?" Harry asked his friend curiously as they trudged down the street after Hermione had left them for Hogwarts again. Harry was still very confused by Ron's behaviour back in the pub. He didn't seem drunk, so Harry couldn't find an explanation as to why Ron had acted the way he had earlier.

"I'm not sure I understand what you're talking about, Harry. You'll have to be a little more specific," Ron replied, appearing to be equally confused by Harry's question. This was only an act, however. He knew exactly what Harry was getting at, but still pretended to be clueless nonetheless.

"You know, the whole 'Hermione-I-think-young-Malfoy-is-great-therefore-you-should-become-best-friends-with-him' thing," Harry answered, imitating Ron's enthusiastic behaviour from Three Broomsticks.

'Realisation' dawned on Ron's face. "Oh. That."

"Yes,_ that_."

Ron shrugged casually. "I just thought they'd make great friends, that's all."

"Great friends…" Harry repeated slowly, still not entirely convinced. "You seriously want her to become friends with _Draco_ _Malfoy's_ _son_?"

"Yeah, why not?" Ron shrugged nonchalantly.

Harry didn't know what to say to that. He settled for staring at Ron as if he had grown another head. The fact that Ron actually seemed genuine in his statement had stunned Harry into silence.

In the meanwhile Ron was trying very hard not to burst into laughter. It was just too funny to confuse the 'rational' Harry sometimes!

"Hey Harry, would you mind terribly if we stopped by at Gladrags? I've promised Gabby that I would pick something up for her," Ron said quickly, deciding to change the subject. He wasn't in the mood for further interrogations today.

As a matter of fact, Ron decided not to let Harry onto his plans involving Hermione and the young Malfoy Heir at all. Harry would probably only end up calling him immature and childish; or even worse, he could rat him and his plan out to Hermione.

Yes, he would keep his mission a secret! Ron hoped that the Ferret (for his very own sake) had a good personal Healer, because he was going to suffer from the things that were to come as far as Ron was concerned.

* * *

A/N: This chapter was betaed by my new Beta RichelleBrinkley – thank you!


	8. Chapter 8: Friend,Not Foe and an Apology

A/N: Last chapter someone asked a very good question in a review (thank you, amaris12345). The question was whether or not Scorpius was aware of Hermione's importance in the war.

Well, I think people are generally aware of her role, especially the older ones who witnessed the war themselves. Younger people learn about the Second WizWar in school. So along with Ron's name, Hermione's would also appear in association with Harry. But since she disappeared from the surface of earth for 25 years, her name is far less known in comparison to the other twos, since Harry and Ron had continued to stay in the centre of the media's attention throughout these years. Harry simply because he is the Boy-Who-Lived-and-defeated-LV and Ron as the friend who fought alongside, but also because he was well-known Quidditch player for some time. Therefore, I think, her importance would be less perceived by people, including Scorpius, and that people would have focused more on the other 'heroes' like Harry, Ron (or even Neville as the slayer of LV's evil pet snake, although it was probably kept secret that it was a Horcrux) in those 25 years.

Also, Scorpius is aware of his family's part in the war, but as I imagine it, the WizWar would be a touchy subject within his family and topic that the older Malfoys would probably prefer not to be reminded of and therefore not talk about, if avoidable. So what Scorpius knows would be rather superficial as I don't think he would go and pry, but he would definitely be aware of the fact that his family has a dark past.

* * *

Chapter 8: A Friend – Not Foe – and an Apology

* * *

There were only six days until Christmas and the students couldn't wait for the festive holiday to finally arrive. Even the teachers seemed a lot more relaxed lately and had mostly decided to cover lighter subjects in their lessons. Years of teaching had taught them that complex subjects only days before the start of any holiday were completely pointless. It was more than obvious that their students weren't paying half as much attention in class anymore.

Even Hermione found it harder to concentrate. She was excited to finally head back home and see her family. Her mother had written to her about a big surprise awaiting her, and this made Hermione very curious.

But as for now she was sitting in Potions, working on an assignment with her group. Hermione was glad that Nott and Malfoy were such capable Potions partners. Their project was progressing perfectly, much to Hermione's delight. _Oh, how she loved it when things went smoothly!_

* * *

Scorpius Malfoy was drumming his fingers on the desk in irritation – he didn't like this, he'd decided. He didn't like this at all.

Whilst he had been keen about being paired up with Theo and Granger for today's assignment, he was also greatly annoyed with them. Not that he had anything against Theo – he liked him, he was his best friend – and Granger, Scorpius liked her too, of course. _She was his sweet little object of desire._

So what exactly was his problem?

Well, it was in the fact that his two partners were getting all cosy with one another! The moment the project groups had been announced, Theo – that tosser – had immediately seized the opportunity to sit right next to her, much to Scorpius' dismay. What an arsehole move.

Of course, Theo couldn't have known about Scorpius' interest in Granger or how he had supposedly messed around with her – only Flint and Scott knew that – but _still_...

As if their continuous chattering with one another hadn't been bad enough, Scorpius had been forced to watch how Theo (a.k.a. the arsehole) would every now and again say something that made Granger smile and laugh sweetly, eyes bright in radiant amusement.

And was it really necessary for the two to sit so close together? Surely not! It couldn't hurt for Theo to slide a little further away from the girl, could it? Their table was large enough; there was no need to get quite so close!

_What a complete and utter wanker Theo was._

That wasn't even the worst of it – Theo and Granger were brushing hands so often Scorpius could've sworn Theo was bumping his hand into hers on purpose. No one brushed someone else's hand twelve times 'accidentally', for goodness' sake!

One time Scorpius got so annoyed that he huffed loudly, causing both Theo and Granger frown at him in confusion. Not that Scorpius cared.

Scorpius decided that he needed to have a word with his friend after the lesson. This development was simply not acceptable.

* * *

"Theo, a word," Scorpius requested as they exited the classroom, conveniently interrupting Theo's little chat with Granger.

"Oh, um okay," Theo replied before turning back to Hermione, "See you later in Herbology, Hermione."

"See you later, Theodore," she answered pleasantly before walking off. The two boys watched her leave longingly.

"So, you wanted a word?" Theo averted his gaze from Hermione's retreating figure to look at his friend. Scorpius still had his eyes on Hermione's back.

"Yes," the Head Boy said and took a deep breath. "I wanted to tell you that if you're getting any ideas about pursuing Granger, then forget about it."

Theo cocked an eyebrow. "And, pray tell, why would I do that?"

"Because I'm telling you to, Theo. Back off Granger," Scorpius warned, and Theo snorted derisively.

"Oho, is it possible that our Mister Malfoy here has his eyes set on this particular lady himself? How interesting," Theo commented, the amusement was apparent in his tone.

Scorpius scowled as Theo continued, "I don't see why I shouldn't try my luck with her. She didn't seem averse to me. As a matter of fact, I think she _really_ likes me. And besides, it's not like she has 'Property of Scorpius Malfoy' stamped on her forehead."

"Unfortunately," Scorpius muttered under his breath.

"She is free to be pursued," Theo added.

Scorpius continued to mutter darkly and Theo shook his head in disbelief, letting out an exasperated sigh. Oh, why did he have to be such a good person?

"Fine, I'll back off," Theo relented, "I won't go after her."

Sometimes Theo got very annoyed with himself and this moment definitely counted as one of them. He was way too good for his friends! Hopefully Scorpius, that spoiled brat, would eventually learn to appreciate the greater person that he, Theodore Nott II, was.

Upon hearing his friend's promise, Scorpius' mood lifted immediately.

"For now that is," Theo added as an afterthought and Scorpius' scowl instantly returned.

"Okay, okay, not just for now," Theo surrendered, voice laced with annoyance. Scorpius nodded, looking very pleased at the outcome of this discussion. He could have hugged Theo for being so cooperative (but he didn't – Scorpius didn't hug other men). Instead he settled on a wide grin and a 'Thanks, mate!' to show his gratitude. Theo just rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, whatever. You owe me one. My Christmas present from you this year better be damn good and not some lame arse shit."

* * *

Hermione dropped her bag and sat down at her favourite table in the library. A dusty tome about advanced potions was lying in front of her as well as several rolls of parchment containing notes she had made during class for her essay. Speaking of Potions class, what had been up with Malfoy today?

That boy was so strange! At first he had been all pleasant and friendly, but as lesson went on, his demeanour changed completely and he started glaring and scowling at her and Theodore. Had she done something to offend him and that she wasn't aware about? Whatever it was, Hermione was glad that she had sat next to Theodore today and not Malfoy. If looks could kill, she would have died a thousand very _painful _deaths today in Potions.

It would probably be best to avoid him like the plague and only talk to him when absolutely necessary. She had no time for people with a bad attitude!

* * *

_Speak of the devil and he shall appear._

Just as she got up to put the book back on its shelf, Scorpius Malfoy walked up behind her. Hermione decided to pay him no heed and pretended she didn't notice his presence. However, she was forced to turn and look at him when Scorpius greeted her.

"Hi Granger." Hermione groaned inwardly. Ignoring him now just seemed so awfully rude!

Hermione quickly muttered a 'hello' before occupying herself with the books on the shelf again. Selecting one that looked relatively useful, she made her way back to her table without another glance at Scorpius.

This caused him to frown deeply, but didn't deter him from following her. Scorpius sat down at a chair opposite Hermione, casting her an expectant look – he wasn't quite done with her yet. Hermione however, didn't seem to notice; she was too engrossed in her work scribbling notes from her book. This left Scorpius with little choice but to cough in order to gain her attention.

Hermione looked up curiously, wondering what the boy could possibly want from her.

"Yes?"

"I came to apologize," Scorpius explained meekly and Hermione, who wasn't expecting anything of the sort, grudgingly put down her pen and gave the Head Boy her full attention.

Scorpius cleared his throat. "I want to apologize for what happened back in the Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson, when my Patronus, um, you know, your Patronus and how I started the whole hussy-calling. That was uncalled for. Then I also want to apologize for my roommate on the night when you and your friends attacked me and–"

Hermione opened her mouth to defend herself, but Scorpius cut her off before she could say anything.

"Yes, I do know that it wasn't on purpose, so let's just forget it. Let's continue: The night I was assaulted; I want to apologize for Scott and his behaviour towards you, and also for the fact that you found yourself in a rather awkward situation after you helped me carry the armchair up to my room and–"

"Awkward situation?" Hermione interrupted indignantly, "Your friends insinuated that we had _se_–"

"I already explained the real reason as to why you were in my room that night to them - so, no worries. Your reputation is restored," Scorpius interrupted. Hermione huffed, but seemed pleased, much to Scorpius' relief. He had, in fact, explained the situation to his friends after the incident.

Well, _sort of_. He had told Flint and Scott about the armchair-affair and how she helped him carry it back to their room. He also told them that he, contrary to belief, had not shagged Granger. He did, however, tell his friends that he and Granger had messed around a bit. _Not that she ever needed to know that._

"I'm also sorry for taking my bad mood out on you today in Potions. You did nothing to deserve that," Scorpius added. Actually, she did, but again she didn't need to know that.

Hermione looked at the boy thoughtfully. When moments passed and she didn't say anything, Scorpius began to feel uncomfortable.

"I accept your apology," Hermione finally conceded after what felt like an eternity to Scorpius. She smiled at him before adding, "And please, call me Hermione."

"All right, Hermione," Scorpius agreed and returned her smile.

Now that had worked out perfectly, hadn't it? Talk about _success_!

* * *

A/N: This chapter was betaed by RichelleBrinkley – thank you!


	9. Chapter 9: Somnium

A/N: Somnium (lat.) = dream

* * *

Chapter 9: Somnium

* * *

Hermione trudged through the snow of Diagon Alley's crowded Winter Wonderland with her brother Robin in tow. He had eagerly accepted her invitation to accompany her with her Christmas shopping and now watched everything with wide-eyed fascination. Hermione was glad he had welcomed magic with open arms and didn't freak out at the idea of this different world – this _magical_ world – at all.

Hermione had to chuckle when Robin got all saucer-eyed at the displays of magic around him. Her brother reminded her of her younger self and her first trip to Diagon Alley with her parents right before her first year of Hogwarts. Everything had been so exciting and wondrous, with so many curiosities to uncover.

Hermione was glad she could share all this with her brother now.

* * *

Scorpius wiggled his way through the crowd, cursing under his breath for not having foreseen this. He regretted not having taken care of all of his presents weeks ago and leaving everything to last minute. It was the same every year and really, he should have known better. Thankfully he only still needed to buy Theo his 'damn good' Christmas present and something for his mother.

Just as he was about to enter a shop, Scorpius caught the sight of a certain brown-haired girl from school, just across the street. He frowned when he realized she was standing and talking with an unfamiliar guy.

Who was this person she was with? They looked far too comfortable with one another for Scorpius' liking. Was he her boyfriend perhaps? Scorpius didn't remember Hermione ever mentioning having one in their conversations, so he had always assumed that she was single – especially considering the fact that she had arrived in 'their time' only three months ago; not exactly much time to find a new boyfriend. At least, that was what Scorpius had thought.

He continued to watch with furrowed brows as the curly-haired man took one of Hermione's hands and pulled her over the other side of the street to enter Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes. His classmate seemed somewhat reluctant, but let herself be dragged away anyway.

After a brief moment of hesitation, Scorpius decided to follow them. He decided not to be discouraged by a possible boyfriend and drop his pursuit of the Gryffindor. He would make sure to change her relationship status soon if she were indeed in one.

* * *

Hermione couldn't help but roll her eyes when her brother dragged her off to a shop he found interesting yet again. She sighed heavily. So this was what it was like to have a sibling, huh?

"Stop sighing all the time," Robin told her, picking up a shiny item from one of the elaborate displays and examining it.

"I still need to get some presents for friends, you know. And you dragging me off everywhere before I can actually find something isn't exactly helping," Hermione pouted and clung onto his left arm. Yes, how was she supposed to find all her Christmas presents if he kept her from her search?

"That's because you want to go and look in the boring shops and not the cool ones," Robin replied and placed the shiny object back onto the display.

The 'boring' comment did not sit well with Hermione. "Robbie, I do n–"

"Yes, you _do_!" her brother insisted. "You do and it's _driving me nuts_."

"Well, I'm sorry, but I hardly think that my girlfriends would appreciate it very much if I bought them Dungbombs or glasses that conjured an illusion and made the wearer turn into the opposite sex to onlookers. Or the books on how to tame a dragon that you were so interested in," Hermione told him, chuckling.

"Yeah, I still can't believe that dragons actually exist. And you've got to admit that I'm pretty fit when I'm a female," Robin deadpanned and they both burst out laughing.

Their funny moment, however, was soon interrupted by a cheery "Hi, Hermione."

Hermione turned and found herself facing one Scorpius Malfoy.

"Oh, hello Scorpius. How are you doing?" she greeted politely.

"I'm doing well, thank you. And yourself?" Scorpius smiled at her whilst he brushed powdery white snow off his clothes.

"Same here," she answered and Scorpius nodded, eyeing her companion suspiciously.

"So, who's your friend?"

"Oh, I'm so sorry. Scorpius, this is my older brother Robin. Robin, this is Scorpius – a friend from school," Hermione introduced the two.

"Hey, man," Robin greeted Scorpius and stuck out his hand to him.

Scorpius shook it with a feeling of relief.

So this man was just her brother and not her boyfriend? He was a friend and not a foe? _Excellent!_

* * *

Hermione had not expected Scorpius to say yes when she asked him if he wanted to join them in their Christmas shopping. She had simply asked out of politeness, but now in hindsight was glad that she had. Her brother and Scorpius got on swimmingly if their animated chatter was anything to go by.

After browsing the shop alone for a while, Hermione decided to re-join the two boys who were standing in front of a shelf showcasing what looked to be a bestseller product. Curious, Hermione picked up one of the boxes and read the description on the back to see what exactly made the product so supposedly appealing.

_The Dream Shell – Re-experience your dreams and keep them stored to share with friends! Just open the shell, place your palm on the liquid surface, say 'Somnium' and the shell shall show you your last dream!_

_*Item only capable of storing one dream. Not re-usable for additional dreams._

Hermione felt quite impressed. The Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes products certainly never failed to amaze her. This really was some extraordinary magic! George and his business partner had really outdone themselves.

However while Hermione approved of this particular magical item, this couldn't be said for all products that were to be found in the Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes assortment. Some of their products were rather outrageous if you asked Hermione.

_Because really_; how could anyone endorse nougats that made people get sick all over the place or gave them severe nosebleeds? Hermione had been so annoyed when Harry and Ron had used them to skive off class once and then later even had the nerve to ask for her homework to copy things off her.

Hermione smiled as she remembered the good scolding she had given them for that. (She had, of course, refused to give them her essay.)

Sighing for what seemed like the millionth time that day, Hermione examined the Dream Shell more closely and scoffed when she saw the price tag.

"What a rip-off! Who in their right mind would be willing to pay that amount of money just to relive a dream they had?"

Her brother and Scorpius, apparently. They walked up to Hermione clutching with bags containing their newly-purchased Dream Shells and huge grins on their faces.

"I can't wait to try this," Robin exclaimed excitedly, eagerly unpacking his box.

"Let's hope this thing works for Muggles, too," Scorpius commented before occupying himself with his own Dream Shell.

Luckily for her brother, the item did indeed work for Muggles. Hermione smiled when she saw him staring at his shell in awe whilst watching his dream. He was such a child sometimes – it was adorable.

* * *

"Is that broom for _flying_?" Robin asked, pointing to a shop window to the left.

"Yes, that's the new Thunderbolt; just came out last month. One of my friends has it – it's an amazing broom," Scorpius answered in equal reverence and immediately began to fill Hermione's brother in about brooms and Quidditch. Hermione rolled her eyes as they entered Quality Quidditch Supplies, forgetting all about Hermione's existence.

"Boys and sports," she muttered under her breath before following them reluctantly.

Inside the shop, Hermione found the two boys still deep in conversation, examining products with almost manic enthusiasm. Not being much of a Quidditch fan herself, Hermione decided to sit down and wait for them until they were done. Her feet felt a bit sore from all the walking.

* * *

Twenty minutes sitting in a chair found Hermione begin to feel extremely bored. No matter how hard she tried, Quidditch could never hold her interest for long.

Hermione shifted around in her chair, trying to get more comfortable, but ended up accidentally knocking over one of the bags that the boys had left with her. With an annoyed groan, she got up and went about to collect the items that she had sent flying all over the floor.

She somehow found herself clutching Robin's Dream Shell, and Hermione flipped it open curiously. She hadn't had a proper chance to examine how it worked.

Hermione watched as the liquid surface began to whirl and then project a moving picture. The scene that unfolded in front of her showed two people sitting on a sofa together in a dimly-lit room. Hermione could neither identify the man's nor woman's faces as they were pressed against each other in a heated snogging session.

Hermione felt her face flush when upon realising that she was seriously invading her brother's privacy. She was sure that Robbie wouldn't want anyone to see this dream – this seemingly smutty dream of his. However, when Hermione was just about to click the Dream Shell shut, she heard something that made her freeze in her spot.

* * *

"_Hermione_," the husky voice breathed as said girl's eyes grew wide and mirrored the horror she was feeling.

_Holy shit_.

The Dream Shell she was currently holding in her hands was _not_ her brother's, but Scorpius Malfoy's! But that wasn't all – it was a Dream Shell that contained a dream that had her starring in it! The man in the dream was her classmate and the woman in those skimpy clothes was her! _Ack_!

Horrified, Hermione looked back down at the Dream Shell in her hands. It was now showing a scene of her dream-self straddling her partner, leaving a trail of sweet butterfly kisses from his collarbone down to his belly button. Her hands were wandering over Dream-Scorpius' torso, caressing his skin. Real-Hermione continued watching in shock, not being able to tear her eyes away, as Dream-Scorpius grabbed the back of her neck, pulling her in for another demanding kiss. Dream-Hermione seemed to really like this, rewarding him with a soft moan, her hands having wandered dangerously low and fingers now playing with the button of his trousers. Before Hermione knew it, those hands suddenly disappeared under said trousers and were starting to pull ou–

Hermione squeaked loudly and snapped the Dream Shell shut.

_Dear God_! Scorpius Malfoy was having very unchaste dreams about her! The slimy pervert wanted to get in her knickers!

He must have been acting this nicely with her and her brother because he must have thought that it would help him in 'getting some' from her!

Hermione clutched the shell tightly in her hands. Oh, Malfoy was definitely going to get something from her. _A good hard kick in his family jewels, that was! That sleazy pervert_!

* * *

Whilst his new friend was occupied with a book he had found, Scorpius decided to search for Hermione. He found her in a corner by a large window sill. When she saw him approaching, she stood up and sent him a menacing glare.

"You want to have sex with me!" Hermione accused him with narrowed eyes, holding up something that looked suspiciously like his Dream Shell.

Scorpius froze in horror. He was _so fucked_.

"Ye– wait, I mean NO!" Scorpius blabbered trying to defend himself, taking a few steps away from Hermione as safety measure.

"NO? Then why did you have dirty dreams about me?" she demanded, hands on her hips and her right foot tapping while waiting for an answer.

"It…" Shit, how was he going to explain this?

"… What you saw was…a nightmare I had? Yes, yes, it was a nightmare of me having sex with you."

_Oh, real smooth._ Scorpius mentally slapped himself.

Hermione frowned, "A nightmare?"

"Yes, of course," Scorpius replied arrogantly. "What else could it have been?"

_Well, certainly not a nightmare_, Hermione thought, but didn't say aloud. _What a lying git._

She was not going to let this go. "It still doesn't give you any right to be having dreams of me doing stuff with you!"

Scorpius scoffed. "Well, excuse me. It's not like I can control the content of my dreams. Like I said, it was a nightm–"

"A nightmare. Yes, yes I know," she cut him off, huffing.

"Oh, don't you go and act all holier-than-thou with me! You're acting as if you never had any sex dreams involving people you know!" Scorpius snapped at her. He was beginning to feel quite annoyed himself.

She went out that Quidditch player and Harry Potter, so she must have had one dream or another of this sort involving at least one of them. She had no right to turn all bitchy on him. Like he had already explained, Scorpius couldn't exactly control what he dreamt of. Hell, he couldn't have known what that stupid Dream Shell was going to show him when he bought it as he did not remember his dreams from last night.

Why was she snooping around in his things anyway? Besides, she was probably just as dirty-minded as him or anyone for that matter. Scorpius told her just so. Hermione gaped at him like a fish, not believing that he had dared to say all those things to her.

Scorpius was saved from her angry retort when her brother decided to re-join them the exact moment that Hermione snapped out of it. Her brother failed to notice the tension between his sister and her classmate and instead asked them if they were hungry and wanted grab something to eat.

Scorpius, still red-faced from anger and embarrassment, nodded and took the lead. "Yeah, follow me."

That only made Hermione angrier.

How dare he join them for lunch now? First he had dirty fantasies about her, then made outrageous accusations and now he decides to join them for lunch? _Was he serious?_

"Hermione, are you coming or what?" Robin asked, breaking her train of thought. "I'm really hungry. So I'd appreciate if w–"

"Yes, I'm sorry," she apologized, giving him a small smile and glaring at Scorpius once Robin had turned away.

He returned the favour and glared right back.

* * *

A/N: A reviewer actually suggested the idea of Scorpius having a naughty dream about Hermione. Therefore: many thanks to the reviewer Panther Eyes! This chapter was quite fun to write. (But also pretty awkward since writing lemony scenes is not really my thing, I discovered.)

And thank you for all the kind reviews for the last few chapters. I'm glad the story is liked.

This chapter was proofread by RichelleBrinkley.


	10. Chapter 10: Puffballs and Battle Moves

A/N: This chapter was betaed by RichelleBrinkley.

* * *

Chapter 10: Puffballs and Battle Moves

* * *

Scorpius was feeling extremely irritated. Hermione's holier-than-thou attitude annoyed him to no end; this left him with no option but to show her what was what.

The moment they arrived at their assigned table, Scorpius jumped at the chance to roughly push her into the booth whilst Robin was distracted, before quickly sliding in beside her himself. Scorpius then proceeded to innocently study the menu, apparently oblivious to what had just transpired and ignoring Hermione's death glare.

As he stared unseeing at the menu, Scorpius wondered why he had been so interested in the girl in the first place. Now that he thought about it, he wasn't even sure why she was supposedly interesting anymore. She was just so damn _irritating_ – no scratch that – _infuriating_ was the word he was looking for! Hermione Granger was a witch who was more trouble than she was worth. And she was constantly picking fights with him!

Well, if she wanted a fight, Scorpius would damn well give her one hell of a fight.

With that in mind, Scorpius immediately decided to put his plan into action. His first battle move was to bump his elbow into hers pretty much every time she raised her fork to her mouth or took a sip of water, making her spill her drink or making her smear the food on her face. It took him a great deal of self-restraint to contain his laughter. Oh, this was fun!

Scorpius felt positively gleeful.

Hermione on the other hand, was silently fuming. She couldn't believe the gall of this boy! And to think that she had actually begun to like him! How laughable this notion now seemed.

He was going to regret ever getting on Hermione Jean Granger's bad side. To hell with her initial decision to ignore his existence - it was time for retaliation!

Making sure the git was distracted by her brother, Hermione carefully raised her right leg until it touched the underside of the table, only to then smash her foot onto Scorpius' with all her might.

She deeply regretted not having chosen to wear some sort of high heels today. While they would have been rather impractical for the weather outside, they would have been extremely convenient in her fight with this nuisance: heels were great weapons.

However judging by her victim's loud yelp and pained expression, Hermione discovered with great delight that her concerns were unfounded. Her current footwear had done the job just fine.

* * *

"_AHH_!" Scorpius cried, startling the daylights of out Hermione's brother whilst his offender watched on smugly.

"Hey man, what's wrong?" Robin asked, concerned despite feeling somewhat annoyed. He hoped that the boy had a good reason for almost making him choke on his lamb chop.

Scorpius glared at Hermione. "What's wrong? What's wrong? Your sister is what's wrong! She's an _evil little_-"

Hermione interrupted him with a scoff.

"Oh, _I'm_ evil? _You_ were the one who started this ridiculous fight and intentionally bumped your elbow into me every time tried to eat or drink! I just gave you what you deserved!" she retorted back angrily, clenching her hands into fists.

"If you hadn't been so uptight earlier then we wouldn't be having this problem at all!" Scorpius rebutted defensively, and proceeded to poke her shoulder in anger.

_Oh, now he dared to poke her too?_ Hermione swatted his hand away.

"Well, I rather be uptight than a horny pervert like you! How dare you insult me after having dirty dreams about me? I have every right to be upset!"

Scorpius rolled his eyes at her.

"Sweet Merlin, don't be so full of yourself! It's not like I wanted to have a dream about you and me having sex, it just happened!" he scowled at her.

This comment caused Hermione's brother to shift his focus entirely onto him. Had that dolt over there really just admitted having unchaste dreams about his sister? _Whoa, whoa, whoa!_

Meanwhile, Scorpius had just come to realise what he had just revealed in front of the girl's brother as well.

_Shit, did that guy's eye just twitch?_ He gulped.

Robin's reaction, however, was unlike Scorpius (or Hermione for that matter) expected. Instead of calling Scorpius out on it and beating the living daylights out of him, Robin surprised the both of them by bursting into laughter.

Hermione would have been lying if she claimed not to be a little offended by this. After all, brothers were supposed to defend their sisters – _especially_ their little sisters – from bad guys. They weren't supposed to laugh at their predicaments!

Scorpius on the other hand, was just relieved he wasn't going to get his arse kicked. However instead of letting the subject go, he continued riling Hermione up.

"Seems like you have to fight this battle on your own, sweetheart," Scorpius told her mockingly.

"You...you…insolent FERRET!"

"Oh, get over yourself! So what if I had a dream about you? Big whoop! And," Scorpius added, puzzled, "What kind of lame insult is 'ferret' anyway?"

That was a sentiment Robin could agree on as well. Calling someone a ferret was indeed a strange way to insult them.

"…I've heard ferrets are pretty smelly," Robin chimed in helpfully.

Had Hermione not been so upset at that very moment, she probably would have laughed at her brother's comment.

Ferrets _were_ pretty smelly. Scorpius, however, smelled really nice…

But that was beside the point. If she decided that he was a ferret, then he was going to be a ferret! A good-smelling ferret that was perverted, nasty and sleazy and with whom she was very upset with.

"It's an inside joke, so of course you wouldn't get it. I hardly think your father goes around telling people the 'Ferret Story'. I know I wouldn't if I were him," Hermione said tiredly and took a sip from her water. This argument really was exhausting.

Scorpius, forgetting all about his anger, raised his eyebrows and looked at her curiously. "What ferret story?"

* * *

"… So that's what happened to your father back in our 4th year. Or at least that is Harry's version of what happened as I wasn't present during the incident - very much to my dismay. I would have loved to see the twitchy little ferret that your father was." Hermione had a big grin on her face when she finished recounting the story.

While her amusement was more than obvious, Scorpius simply sat there speechless, his mouth wide open. What he had just heard was… it was outrageous! To think he'd always thought the teachers today were terribly uptight and strict; the teachers back in his father's day were pure evil! His poor, poor father!

How was it that the teacher had gotten away with it without any legal consequences? To top it all off, the girl sitting next to him thought this was funny! How dare she? He needed to stand up for his father and defend the Malfoy family honour!

And so, Scorpius decided to do what he seemingly did best, at least in the case of Hermione Granger: insult her some more.

* * *

As funny as it had been to watch Scorpius and his little sister bickering at first, this whole ordeal was slowly starting to get on Robin's nerves. Not to mention how awkward they made him feel. Robin didn't like it at all when people made him feel awkward. He was an innocent bystander dragged into their mess.

Perhaps he should make an escape; maybe sit somewhere else until they worked out their problems? He eyed a nearby table appraisingly.

Nah, he'd just sit this one out. Surely these two would get tired of arguing at some point.

* * *

Oh, how very wrong he had been! Twenty minutes later and his two companions were still at it, not showing the slightest signs of ceasing anytime soon. As hard as Robin tried to tune them out and eat his food peacefully, it was impossible.

God, why couldn't they just stop with their annoying 'I absolutely have no interest in sleeping with yous' and 'oh really your dream says otherwises', the 'horny gits' and the 'hypocrite prudes' or the 'you dodo-brains'?

_Blah-fucking-blah._

Eventually Robin got so annoyed that he ended up snapping at both of them, told them to stuff it already and ordered them to apologize to each other.

They did, albeit very grudgingly.

"Don't forget the handshake," Robin demanded, still watching them closely, arms crossed over his chest.

Again, reluctantly, they did as he said, but not without sending him glares that just screamed 'you should have sided with me, you traitor!'

Yes, as her brother, Robin knew he should probably have sided with Hermione, but considering how unreasonable and an incredible nuisance she was being right now, he couldn't care less about being loyal. He had to agree with some points Scorpius had made during their quarrel. However that didn't mean that Robin was going to side with Scorpius either. No, he suspected that the boy probably _did_ want to get into his sister's knickers, just as she was accusing him of. The Dream Shell was heavy evidence against him. Robin had considered going into protective brother mode, but seeing as how his sister was faring pretty well on her own and already giving the boy hell, he decided against it.

Robin rolled his eyes heavenwards. "Teenagers…what a bother."

It really was time to go home.

* * *

Come Christmas morning and Hermione and her family were standing outside the driveway of their home to admire Hermione's present from her parents. Her mother had not been lying in her letter when she announced that they had a big surprise for her! Hermione couldn't help but let out a loud squeal while almost literally squeezing the life out of her parents and bouncing up and down in excitement. She couldn't believe that her parents had actually gotten her a car! Her very own shiny new car!

Her excitement was slightly dampened, however, when her father handed her the keys. It wasn't until then when Hermione remembered something very important.

"Mum? Dad?" she asked them with a frown.

"Yes, darling?"

"I don't know how to drive. I've never gotten a license, remember?"

"…"

"…"

* * *

Hermione was buttering her toast and talking to her mother when a loud 'POP!' interrupted their conversation. All four heads snapped to the source of noise, only to find a nervous looking creature with long ears staring up at them.

Even though her mother had warmed up to the magical world and embraced the fact that her daughter was a witch, it didn't mean that she wanted strange creatures in her home. She screamed shrilly at the sight of the house-elf in her dining room.

The creature immediately recoiled in equal fright, looking both mortified and inconsolable for having scared a human. Hermione almost got the impression that it wanted throw itself out the window of their two-story house as punishment. The poor misguided thing.

"Mum! _Mum!_ It's okay. It's just a house elf! They're very friendly creatures and don't mean any harm," Hermione tried to calm her mother down.

Her mother didn't look too convinced at her daughter's words, continuing to cling onto her husband's arm for her dear life. Said husband winced in pain.

Robin, however, seemed fascinated by the sudden appearance of the elf and curiously stretched out his arm to poke it.

"Robbie, that's rude!" Hermione scolded him, quickly catching his hand in hers before he could touch the elf.

"Blinky is very sorry for scaring Miss Granger and her family," the elf began nervously, hopping from one foot to the other. "Blinky was sent here by Master to deliver a present to the young Miss."

It was only then Hermione noticed a fairly-large box behind the elf.

"Um, thank you, Blinky. That is very kind of your Master and, of course, of you for delivering it to me," Hermione told the elf with a smile.

"Here you go Miss," it eagerly handed her the present before proceeding to apologise profusely to Hermione's mother for scaring her and assuring that he would punish himself for his misbehaviour once he got home.

Before Hermione could tell the elf not to punish himself or even ask who his master was however, the elf bowed and disapparated with a loud 'POP!'

"Well, that was interesting," Robin said dryly and went back to eating his breakfast.

Hermione and her parents on the other hand, stared at the box in Hermione's hand.

"Open it, darling. We want to see what's in it," her mother encouraged when she made no move to open it.

Hermione nodded and rattled the box lightly as she always tended to do with presents in order to get an idea of what could be inside. However, upon doing this, a low hiss sounded from inside the box.

Startled, Hermione shot out of her seat, quickly placing the box on the ground whilst her mother's expression suggested that she was on the verge of hysterical screaming again. Even Robin had stopped munching on his croissant and stared at the box with a suspicious frown.

Hermione quickly reached for her wand, ready to hex whatever it was that was inside. Carefully, she undid the bow and used her foot to nudge open the lid… and almost died at the sight of a fluffy orange kitten poking its head out and staring at her accusingly.

* * *

"Aren't you the sweetest little kitten in the whole wide world?" Hermione's mother cooed at the kitten, giving it little kiss on the head before placing it back on the floor next to a bowl filled with tuna. The kitten purred loudly in response, letting itself be petted whilst eating his food.

"Hey, Hermione! There's a letter in the box. Probably a note from the 'Master'," Robin told her, holding up his hands and making air quotes saying 'Master'.

Hermione accepted the parchment held out to her and read it curiously.

* * *

_Hello Hermione,_

_Please accept this gift that my elf delivered to you as peace offering from me. _

_I bought this cat when I went to the Magical Menagerie the other day to get my owl some treats. Whilst there, this psychotic kitten suddenly attacked me for absolutely no reason, which reminded me a lot of you, actually._

_I am sure you two will get along very nicely: an evil kitten for an evil Gryffindor – a perfect match. So please accept this pet and stop being all pissed-off at me already._

_Wishing you a merry Christmas,_

_Scorpius Malfoy_

_P.S.: The cat's name is Puffball. My father suggested Patapouf - that's French for fatty - but seeing as the kitten is just all fur and not fat, my mother's name for it seemed much more appropriate (I know... never listen to a man who insisted on naming you Scorpius Hyperion). It was also the only name the creature responded to without trying to attach its claws to my skin._

_P.P.S.: I advise you to never go and try to tie a ribbon around that cat's neck. Apparently it doesn't like them very much._

* * *

Hermione set down the letter and stared at her new and loudly purring pet, feeling quite stunned.

_Wow._ Who would have thought the git capable of such a gesture? His apology was so – dare she say it – _sweet_. Yes, so very sweet and _rude_ at the same time.

Hermione shook her head with a small smile as she crouched down and petted her new kitten.

This Scorpius Malfoy was certainly an enigma to her.

* * *

A/N: This chapter is dedicated to Maru the cat. Maybe you've seen some videos of him on Youtube. He's such an adorable and funny cat. :)

Oh, and this is what I imagine Puffball to look like: www DOT themegryan DOT com / images / FurryCat DOT jpg


	11. Chapter 11: Biscuits and Gentlemen

A/N: This chapter was betaed by RichelleBrinkley.

* * *

Chapter 11: Biscuits and Gentlemen

* * *

_Dear Scorpius,_

_I accept your peace offer and would like to thank you very much for Puffball. He is a lovely cat. He may be all fur now, but I think that there is a good chance we will have to rename him to Patapouf soon, if my mother does not stop over-feeding him. Also, many thanks for your advice - I will remember to never go near Puffball with any ribbons._

_Scorpius, I think I owe you an apology, too. You know, for the name-calling, the foot-stomping and – I suppose – for my little overreaction concerning your dream. That was childish of me. Please forgive me for this uncalled behaviour._

_Wishing you pleasant holidays and a Happy New Year,_

_Hermione_

_P.S.: The biscuits are supposed to be little ferrets, even if they don't look as much like them. Who would have thought that transfiguring biscuit cutters would be so difficult? I hope you are not allergic to almonds._

_P.P.S.: Yes, your father may have laid it on a little thick with your names._

* * *

Scorpius rolled his eyes as he set down the letter and picked up one of the biscuits. He snorted – Hermione's biscuits did indeed bear resemblance to ferrets. _Of course she would insist on making a little jab back_.

Scorpius popped the biscuit into his mouth before preoccupying himself with the parcel that had come along with the baked goods. Upon unwrapping it and glimpsing what was inside, he could not resist a smirk. It was a plain, but nevertheless…expressive T-shirt with the slogan: "Not arrogant. Just better."

_She really couldn't help herself, could she?_

Then again, he had been no different. When he had written his letter, his peace offering to her, little jabs and insults had begged to be included. His fingers had been itching so badly and it had taken him quite a few drafts (seven to be exact) before he finally had his 'perfect' letter – perfect as in keeping insults to minimum, that was. Naturally, it would have been smarter to not include any insults at all, considering the fact that he wanted to bury the hatchet, but that would have taken all the fun out of it in Scorpius' opinion. Besides, he had been sure that the cat would make all his insults okay.

"Oh, what do have you there, Scorpius?" his mother asked as she and Draco entered the room.

Scorpius held up the shirt for her. "A Christmas present from a friend."

His mother chuckled. "How fitting! It is very… _you_."

Scorpius frowned at her.

"Darling, I was just joking! You're not like that at all," his mother assured him quickly, pinching him on the cheek lightly.

"Mother, no cheek-pinching!" Scorpius complained, rubbing his cheek in annoyance. Why did his mother still have to do that? He wasn't a six-year-old anymore!

"Astoria, you shouldn't tease him like that. He's not a little boy anymore. So, who's your present from, Scor?" Draco asked conversationally as he helped himself to handful of biscuits.

"Hermione sent it to me along with those ferret biscuits you're eating." Scorpius watched his father curiously as he said this and was not disappointed by his father's reaction. He laughed inwardly.

Upon hearing his son's words, the biscuit Draco had been eating unexpectedly went down the wrong pipe, causing him to cough and gag violently.

"_W-what_?" Draco managed to rasp out as Astoria patted his back in concern.

"Hermione sent me the shirt and those biscuits. The biscuits are in the shape of ferrets. See?" Scorpius explained, holding one up and wondering if he should pester his father further about the Ferret Incident.

Draco tried to act nonchalant, but failed. "Really? She sent you those?"

Scorpius nodded. "Yes, and judging by your reaction earlier, the story she told me about you must be true then…"

"Bloody Granger. Of course she couldn't pass on the chance of embarrassing me," Draco muttered, scowling darkly at the box of biscuits. "You shouldn't believe everything you hear, Scor. Granger wasn't even there when it happened. But let's not talk about this... I take it that since she sent you a gift in return that she liked the little fat cat you got her for Christmas."

Scorpius nodded. "She does. I guess women just adore small fluffy animals no matter how malicious they are." He still had several angry scratches on his arm the beast had given him.

"Of course she does. Years ago she had that ugly flat-faced ginger Kneazle that she loved to death. Crookshanks was his name, I believe. You'd think that having that face would be punishment enough for it," said Draco and was about to reach for another biscuit, when he remembered who had made them and what form they had.

"He was such a friendly and loveable cat," Astoria disagreed. "He was quite smart, too. He always visited me."

Father and son shared a look. _Women and small fluffy animals indeed._

As the three Malfoys continued discussing their upcoming plans for New Year's Eve, Scorpius yelped loudly when his mother accidentally kicked his already sore foot whilst reaching for her cup of tea.

Astoria looked at her son in concern. "I'm sorry, Scor. Did it hurt that badly? I didn't think I bumped your foot very hard."

Scorpius lifted his leg to massage his foot in order to soothe the pain. For someone so small, Hermione Granger sure knew how to cause damage.

"You didn't, mother. My foot just hurts from being stomped on rather violently."

"Who hurt my poor baby?" Astoria immediately demanded, stroking her son's fair hair and looking upset.

"You surely remember my little argument with Hermione?"

"She _attacked_ you?" Astoria gasped. Astoria was appalled by this news. And to think how delighted she had been, believing that Granger would be good for her son. The vicious girl had attacked her baby! It seemed that Draco had not been exaggerating with all his stories – he seemed to have been right all along!

Scorpius shrugged nonchalantly. "I'm alright, mother. No need to worry."

"But she _hurt_ you!" Astoria protested, Draco agreeing with her.

"Scor, your mother is right. The girl clearly spells trouble. Perhaps you should let this go and pursue someone else – preferably a girl without a violent streak."

Scorpius, however, was not to be convinced. "Really, it's okay. I elbowed her a couple of times. So she and I are even."

Draco looked amused by this. "You elbowed her?"

Scorpius nodded. "Yep."

Draco stared at his son. How could Scorpius still be interested in the girl after something like that? If he had been in Scorpius' place, he would have long given up the chase…but each to their own. At least Scorpius managed to get back at Granger a little by elbowing her.

"What did you say to her to make her attack you in the first place?" Draco wondered.

"Um, nothing. She stomped on my foot because I was elbowing her," Scorpius admitted, scratching the back of his head sheepishly.

Astoria gasped. "Scorpius! I can't believe you! You made it seem like she was the one who started the fight, but it was actually you! All this when you were the one who provoked her in the first place?" She swatted her son on the arm.

"Ouch! Mother!"

Scorpius rubbed his arm and frowned at his mother before exchanging a grin with his father, who, judging by his facial expression, very evidently thought that his son's stunt with Granger was hilarious.

"I thought I raised a gentleman, but then you go and act like a total idiot," Astoria huffed, "Draco say something!"

Draco, however, didn't mind his son's less than gentlemanly behaviour. He was grinning from ear to ear. "Good job, son," he said in approval.

"Draco! You're not supposed to praise him for his behaviour! No wonder our son is like this! Ugh, you two are terrible!"

Astoria stood up, grumbling something under her breath and left the two men alone in the parlour.

* * *

"I can't fault you, Scorpius. I always found it highly amusing to get her all worked up, too," Draco told his son after both calmed down from their laughing fit. "She hit me once too, you know."

Scorpius looked very interested at this. "Why did she hit you?"

"When I was in my third year at Hogwarts, I was attacked by a Hippogriff in Care of Magical Creatures. The Hippogriff broke my arm, so your grandfather made sure that the animal was going to be executed as it was a danger to students. Granger, however, thought that it didn't deserve to die and got upset with me for it. We argued, exchanged insults, and then she slapped me. Pretty hard, too. You can't imagine how embarrassing it was to be slapped by a girl, especially by someone like her," Draco recalled, rubbing his cheek at the memory of his cheek's unpleasant encounter with Hermione's palm.

"Actually I can imagine. I guess I was lucky that I only got my foot stomped on and didn't end up with a red hand print on my face."

Draco snorted. "I second that. My cheek was red for hours."

"Being light-skinned certainly has its disadvantages. Very inconvenient at times."

Draco agreed. Being pale was definitely not only annoying because it caused you to get sunburns so easily, but he was at least thankful that he didn't get freckles. Now _that _would be horrible!

Scorpius and Draco sat in the parlour in comfortable silence. It was always nice to have some quality father-son time.

"Scor, I'm afraid we'll have to cut this conversation short. I need to make a floo call to your grandparents," Draco said, glancing down at his watch. Standing up, he stretched and was about to reach for a biscuit when he again remembered who had made them.

"You can have the biscuits. I won't tell her that you liked them," Scorpius assured him with a wide grin.

Draco fixed him with a glare, but took the box of biscuits as he exited the room. Scorpius had better keep this a secret like he promised!

* * *

A/N: Thank you for all the nice feedback!

I realise that I probably should have shown how the war and how being thrown into the future affected Hermione more in the previous chapters. However, unlike in stories where she is thrown back in time, here in the future she actually still has her two best friends (even if they are now much older than her) _and_ her family. I think these factors would help her in coping with her new situation a lot. I imagine that since she is not alone in this story – compared to stories where she is somewhere back in time with nobody except for Dumbledore – she would settle in much faster/easier.

As for the war: I'm not entirely sure if everything that happened in the 7th book, like the torture etc. actually happened in my story… I still have to decide on that, but most of it probably did. However, I didn't feel like portraying her as a tortured soul from war here, even if that's ooc. I wanted Hermione to finally be able to live her carefree life that she deserves and not spending her time thinking about the horrible war. Aside from that, not everyone deals with trauma the same way. Not everyone wakes up screaming and soaked in sweat from nightmares or cowers in corners crying. Suppression is a very common defence mechanism.


	12. Chapter 12: Allah Kedavra

A/N: The fantastic RichelleBrinkley betaed this chapter.

* * *

Chapter 12: Allah Kedavra! It was… Voldemort!

* * *

"I take it that Ron banished you from the kitchen?" Harry said upon seeing Hermione emerge with a deep frown on her face. The Grangers along with the Potters had been invited for dinner at the Weasleys' for the evening.

The sour expression didn't leave Hermione's face as she turned to Harry. "Yes. He just shooed me out with his wooden spoon and frying pan. Said he didn't need any assistance. Something about 'disturbing his aura'."

Harry chuckled. "Yeah, Ron doesn't really like it when people disturb his 'cooking aura'. The only people he's okay with helping him are Gabrielle and Molly, so don't take it personally. Sometimes he bans people from 'his' kitchen for days – like that one time when he created this new menu for his restaurant or something. We've all learned just to let Ron do what he does. He'll ask if he needs help."

Hermione nodded. "His dedication certainly is commendable."

"It is," Harry agreed, "but enough about Ron. Tell me about you. How's the new life so far?"

Hermione plopped down on the sofa next to her friend. "Still strange, but I'm adjusting. It definitely helps that I've made new friends so fast and have I so many supportive people around me. Sometimes I feel extremely out of place and left out, but that can't always be helped. I usually have absolutely no clue about what the people around me are talking about since I've missed a 'couple' of years, but I suppose things could be a lot worse. So I shouldn't be complaining and just be grateful that they aren't."

Harry nodded understandingly.

"It's so odd to have complete strangers, like our neighbour Mrs Harrison, coming up to me and telling me all these stories about how she used to babysit me and what mischief my brother and I had allegedly caused together. Mum and dad are awfully protective and clingy, but that's understandable. It's nice to have a sibling, even if my brother drives me crazy sometimes. We haven't known each other for that long, but I love him dearly already. I could, however, do without him always using the word 'hippie' on every occasion," Hermione explained.

The word did seem to be one of Robin's favourites for he kept referring to anything or anyone he found odd as a 'hippie'. Such as the clothes he saw her wearing in old pictures or the wizard (a.k.a. the über hippie) that had tagged along with him everywhere a couple of months ago, in order to modify his friends' and acquaintances' memories, making them 'remember' Hermione. Of course, she was occasionally referred to as a hippie as well.

"School is still the same old; although I think I'll have to tell Neville to stop favouring me in class. Obvious teacher's pets are not particularly popular or well received by their peers," Hermione said before adding, "Not that I care about being popular, of course."

"Of course not, Hermy," Harry said with a soft smile.

"Please don't call me Hermy, Harry. You know I never liked that nickname."

"I'm sorry, Hermy - I mean, _Hermione_," Harry teased and poked her shoulder.

"Insincere apology accepted, _Boy Who Lived_."

"Thank God!" Harry exclaimed in mock relief while Hermione grinned at him. They sat in comfortable silence, occasionally humming to the melody of the song that was playing in the background.

"I'm glad you and Ron have such great families. You've both raised your children so well."

Harry gave her a warm smile. "Yeah, who would have thought, huh? Especially that Ron's children would be better behaved than mine. Sirius was a cheeky devil when he was younger, let me tell you. Got into a lot of trouble, but thankfully he has outgrown that phase. Lily can be very mischievous, too – especially around full moon time."

Hermione looked questioningly at Harry. Harry noticed this and elaborated further. "Lily has lycanthropy. When Lavender was attacked by Greyback, she got infected. She passed the gene down to Lily."

"_Oh_. I'm sorry to hear that."

"It's not really that big of a deal. There's this potion that was developed a couple of years ago which is used for Lycanthropy treatment. It prevents the gene from fully activating itself; it suppresses it. That is, if you begin with the treatment early enough. We're lucky that we had Lily start the treatment as soon as we found signs of Lycanthropy. She doesn't transform on full moon like Lavender, but she behaves a little strangely during that time, getting all twitchy and hyper…"

Hermione nodded. "It's still a little weird to see you with Lavender. She was the last person I expected you to end up with. You two are so different. You didn't have much in common in school."

Harry laughed. "I know. I was a little shocked myself when I realized what was happening, but the heart does what the heart wants. Lavender was and still is _it_ for me."

"I'm glad you're happy. I only wish I had been there and not missed everything." Realizing how much she had missed of the life of her friends and family always made Hermione a little sad.

"Well, you're here now. I'll make sure to catch you up on everything."

* * *

Hermione, Rose, Lily and Clémentine were in the dining room, setting the table for dinner. When they were done, Clémentine sat down and looked at Hermione curiously. "Is it really true that you have your hair insured for 20,000 galleons?"

Hermione suppressed a groan. Damn Dennis Creevey and his article for the Daily Prophet with all its supposed 'exclusive facts'. She really needed to have a word with Hannah about the article and the pictures that Dennis had somehow gotten his clutches on. Hermione wasn't a particularly vain person, but out of all pictures that Hannah had taken of her roommates, she of course had only given those to her father, where she had looked the best on, not caring much about how good (or not good) everyone else on the pictures looked.

"No, it's not true. Most of the things that were written in that article by Hannah's father weren't true. I didn't even know that insurances for something like that were possible. Who in their right mind covers insurance for hair and, at that, for 20,000 galleons?"

"Oh, plenty of celebrities do that. And you do have rather nice hair," Clémentine explained, Lily and Rose nodding in agreement.

"Yeah, but I'm not a celebrity. Thank-you, however for saying my hair is nice. I've always felt a bit self-conscious about it. I'm glad I've managed to somewhat calm the frizziness down." Hermione answered awkwardly.

"I think it looks even better now that you have it curly again - not that you didn't look good with straight hair also. But you do have the advertising contract with that Quidditch sporting gear manufacturer in Japan, right?"

This time Hermione couldn't help but laugh. "I hate to disappoint, but no. I'm not doing advertisements for Quidditch equipment either. I'm really wondering where Dennis came up with this stuff. First hair insurances and then sports gear advertisements – I mean, really? Me of all people? I don't care much for Quidditch and I've actually only ever watched matches when a close friend of mine was playing … or forced by Ron and Harry." Hermione sighed. She really should have given Dennis his exclusive interview when Hannah asked for him. Now people probably thought she was a complete oddball in the aftermath of the article.

* * *

Dinner was delicious and the conversation was flowing nicely. Everyone was having a good time at the get-together.

"Malfoy? Oh, isn't that also the last name of the boy who sent you Puffball? "Hermione's mother asked after Harry told them a story about work – or rather, a joke that had Draco Malfoy at the butt of it.

"Yes, that's the one," said Hermione.

"What's a Puffball?" Harry asked. The name reminded him an awful lot of those supposedly 'cute' Pygmy Puffs (that in reality were really ugly) which used to be popular when they still went to school together. He would have never picked Hermione as a fan.

"Puffball is my new cat," Hermione explained as she took another slice of roast beef. Golly, Ron really knew how to cook. At the end of the night she was probably going to weigh several pounds more if she wasn't careful!

Speaking of food, the cook's interest immediately piqued up at Hermione's mother's comment. "Scorpius Malfoy got you a cat for Christmas? How very _thoughtful _and_ nice_ of him. He must be a good friend of yours." Ron tried very hard to suppress his gleeful smirk. _Oh, this was really good! _He wondered if the Ferret already knew about his ferret-son and wooing his school nemesis. This delightful news made the already delicious dinner taste even better!

Hermione, who didn't like the way Ron emphasized the words _thoughtful _and _nice_, eyed him in suspicion. There was that strange behaviour again! Hermione cast a worried look at Harry, but her friend only gave her a lazy shrug before turning back his dinner.

While her mother eagerly agreed with Ron about how _nice_ this boy must be, Hermione's father merely rolled his eyes. He supposed that the gift had been a nice gesture indeed, but nevertheless was he rather wary of his daughter's new pet. Unlike his wife, he had had a rather violent encounter with the furry animal just this very morning. Apparently the cat had a strong aversion to green socks, and had a tendency to attack anyone wearing them. Puffball had even bitten an unsuspecting Hermione, who had been on her way to the kitchen to get something from the fridge. He and his daughter now both had small bite marks on their ankles. Clear to say, all green socks had been disposed of that same morning.

"I thought so, too," Hermione's mother agreed and added, smiling, "My son told us that Hermione and her friend are bickering like an old married couple already."

Hermione gasped. How dare her brother say such things?

"We do not act like a couple! And much less like a married couple!" Hermione protested whilst everyone else chuckled and shot her 'knowing' glances.

Hermione's mother patted her hand. "It's alright, darling. You don't need to be embarrassed. Couples fight all the time. It's very normal."

"He is not my boyfriend, mum. We are just friends. Actually, we are more like acquaintances really, not even friends."

"Oh, really?"

"Yes, really, mum."

"If you say so." Her mother decided to let it go, even though she was not convinced in the slightest.

* * *

"Does your father even really know Scorpius? Have they like… ever _talked _to one another before?" Hermione whispered to Rose who was sitting to her left.

"Not that I know of. I might have mentioned him once in a while when I told dad stories from school. So yeah, I'm not sure where this praise is coming from either. Scorpius and I don't hang out with the same crowd or share that many friends. But, you know, dad's not wrong by saying that Scorpius is a really nice guy – he is. I don't think anyone was surprised when he got Head Boy. Most people expected that he and Isabelle would get their positions, being top students, dedicated Prefects and all."

"Ugh no, not you too," Hermione muttered under her breath. Why was it that everyone thought that Scorpius Malfoy was so great? To her he seemed more like an idiot really… An idiot who had gotten her a sweet, lovely cat. All right, so maybe he wasn't all _that_ bad. He had his moments. The Christmas present had definitely earned him brownie points – even if the present's attached letter had been rife with veiled insults. One example would be the part where he basically told her that she was a nutter by saying that a 'psychotic kitten' reminded him of her. And then let's not forget his demand, yes _demand_, for her to stop being 'all pissed off already'.

Hermione just hoped that Scorpius Malfoy never chose to become a politician for his own safety. He would fail horribly in writing diplomatic letters and the likes. She was sure that he would have to live in constant fear of being assassinated, should he ever chose such a career.

"Well, if you like him so much, then why don't you go for him yourself?" Hermione asked after Rose finished her rather long monologue about the Slytherin and encouraged Hermione to 'go for it'.

Clémentine scrunched up her nose at Hermione's comment. "Because we are related. Scorpius Malfoy is our–," she paused, looking thoughtful, "–fourth cousin once removed. That's why Rose is not going for him."

Rose mulled over her sister's answer and nodded. "Yes, she's right. And besides, I am already interested in someone else."

"Oh yes, Mr Loverboy who is wetting his pants in fright just at the sight of papa," said Clémentine and she and Lily sniggered.

Rose glared at both girls, leaning over the table to whack her little sister with her napkin.

"Rose, ne frappe pas ta sœur!" their mother scolded disapprovingly.

"Maman, elle m'a provoqué!" Rose protested and pointed accusingly at her sister who was still sniggering.

"J'ai juste dit la vérité. Son ex n'a pas de couilles," Clémentine told her mother innocently, and proceeded to then stick her tongue out at her sister.

"Clémentine, sois gentille avec ta sœur," Gabrielle ordered before turning to her husband, "I swear, they both got their temper from you."

Rose, however, wasn't finished with her sister, "Not that it is any of your business, but I'll have you know that he is very manly."

Ron upon hearing this promptly dropped his fork in shock, making it clatter loudly onto his plate. That was a sentence that _no_ father wanted to hear from their daughter: boys being 'very manly'.

"Err, you probably shouldn't have said that," said Clémentine, whose eyes were now wide as saucers. She eyed their father nervously. Ron was looking dangerously red-faced.

Rose didn't take any notice of this and frowned at her sister in confusion until she realized how her answer must have sounded to everyone.

"Okay, that just came out horribly wrong. I didn't mean it like that. So, all of you, get your minds out of the gutter! I was just saying that because this cow over there was insulting my boyfriend," she tried to save the situation.

"Boyfriend?" Ron repeated slowly.

Rose cringed. Damn, how could she have let that one slip out? She had been so careful at hiding her relationship since her father didn't approve and had told Clémentine to spy on her.

Everyone's eyes darted back and forth between daughter and father.

"Oh come off it, dad. Why is it so horrible for you that I'm seeing someone? Someone who is a perfect gentleman – even if you claim the opposite and say he is a sleaze ball. How can you be like this with me and then support her and her relationship with our cousin?" Rose snapped her father, pointing angrily at Hermione who shifted uncomfortably in her seat. She didn't do anything and was being dragged into this.

"I'm not in a relationship with your cousin," Hermione interrupted, raising her forefinger in objection.

"Oh shut it, Hermione. Well, dad?"

Hermione mouth snapped shut immediately while everyone else continued staring at Ron, waiting for his answer. Rose did have a point.

"Hermione is older than you. You are still too young. And I didn't say that your boyfriend was a 'sleaze ball' – I called him a horny little bastard."

"That's even worse, dad! And Hermione is only four months older than I am. You're being so unfair!"

Clémentine, who usually loved to make life difficult for her sister – as siblings were prone to – came to the same conclusion. "She does have a point, papa. Your logic doesn't make much sense. You're not being very fair."

Rose shot her a grateful look. "See, even she agrees with me! And she almost never agrees with me! Besides, mum already told me it was okay for me to go out with Michael!"

Ron felt deeply betrayed by his wife. "You knew?"

Gabrielle sighed. "Ron, our Rose is old enough and she is a very smart girl. She wouldn't be with Michael if he were a complete cretin. And we've known him since he was little. You didn't mind him before he and Rose got together."

Ron wasn't happy about her answer, but couldn't disagree with the logic. Damn the women in his family for teaming up against him. They sure knew how to make him feel guilty. He supposed that he would have to accept defeat… for now.

* * *

Winter holidays over, Hermione and her friends were back at Hogwarts. Much to her horror, Hermione found she was struggling to keep up in a subject and was mortified beyond belief when her new Professor confirmed her fears, telling her that she was only upper average in his class. This development sat anything but well with Hermione. She was used to being the best in pretty much any class she took, but now it became clear that 25 years from her time did make a difference here and there when it came to school. The curriculum and school books had changed quite a bit, but luckily enough, Theodore, who had been paired up with her in Potions again, had offered to ask a good friend to help her out and tutor her. Hermione had gratefully taken up on this offer.

During lunch the same day, Hermione heard someone walking up behind her before feeling a tapping on her shoulder.

"Hey there, Granger! Theo told me that you needed help in Charms?" Scott Pucey asked with a devastatingly charming smile.

Hermione cocked her head in confusion before nodding slowly. Surely Pucey wasn't the friend Theodore had been referring to? The tutoring lessons she had been so eager about suddenly didn't seem like such a good idea anymore.

"Um, yes, but it's alright really. I don't want to bother you with this. I'm sure you have better things to do than tutoring people…"

"No, not really. I can help you. I've tutored a couple of people in Charms before and I dare say that I'm pretty good at it."

"Oh, okay. Thank-you for helping me out, Pucey."

Scott nodded. "So when would be the best time? Would tomorrow at five be good for you?"

"Yes, five is fine," smiled Hermione.

"Good, then let's meet in front of the library tomorrow – or better, the library study rooms, okay?"

"Sure. Thanks again."

Instead of saying something in return, Scott just waggled his eyebrows at her before walking off to the Slytherin table. Hermione's friends stared questioningly at her.

"What?" Hermione asked defensively.

"Scott Pucey is tutoring you?" Hannah asked in disbelief.

Hermione tried to act nonchalant. "Yes, he is. I'm having problems keeping up and I've heard that he's really good at Charms. But I don't get why you're asking me, Hannah. You were right here when he talked to me about it a second ago. So I don't understand why you are asking me about it, when you already know."

"Well, maybe because it's, um, Pucey? The guy that tries to use his_ charms_ to get in every girl's knickers?" Rose explained slowly.

"And he waggled his eyebrows at you. That is never good. Well, unless you're interested in him. Then it's good, I suppose." Isabelle told her with a giggle.

The eyebrow waggling had Hermione a little worried indeed. "Well, then one of you has to come along with me. Hannah, you'll go with me."

"What? _No_!"

"You owe me, Hannah. You owe me for those unflattering pictures your father published in his article," Hermione argued.

"Well, my face did look rather puffy on the other ones. But seriously, you didn't look that bad on those other pictures."

"Not that bad? I was crossed-eyed in one of them!"

Rose and Isabelle tried hard to keep straight faces, but failed. They broke out into a fit of laughter at the memory of the article. Hannah bit her lower lip in order to keep herself from joining them.

"Uh, heh-heh. I suppose that picture was somewhat unflattering. But you looked so funny that it made it kind of endearing, you know? And you did look okay on the other four pictures, so stop trying to blackmail me into coming with you. I'm not even taking that advanced Charms class. It would be kind of strange if I suddenly turned up with you. Especially with me having a history with Scott – that would just be plain awkward. So, I can't go with you. Sorry."

"Isabelle?"

"Nuh-uh, can't. Busy schedule tomorrow," the Head Girl said apologetically.

Hermione turned to Rose.

"I would have gone with you, Hermione, but I've already made plans. I have a date," Rose explained before beaming at her boyfriend. "Our anniversary, you know?"

Hermione sighed. So a tutoring lesson with Pucey all alone it was.

* * *

When Hermione was on her way to meet Pucey the next day, she crossed paths with Scorpius. He was deeply engrossed in a book and didn't notice her presence.

"Hi Scorpius," she called to get his attention.

"Oh, hello there Hermione. Heading to the library?"

Hermione adjusted her book bag. "Yes, to the library study rooms. I have tutoring."

"What are you tutoring?"

Hermione tucked a curl behind her ear. "Uh, I'm actually not tutoring anyone. It's me that is getting tutored…"

Scorpius looked surprised at this admission.

"Yeah, I know. It's a little embarrassing, but I'm falling behind. So someone offered to help me."

Scorpius nodded. "So who's tutoring you and what's the subject?"

Hermione bit her lower lip. "Charms and it's your friend Pucey actually. Theodore set us up when he heard that I needed help."

Scorpius frowned at this. Theo had set her up with Scott? Why on earth had he done that? Theo could have set her up with him. Whilst he wasn't as good as Scott in that particular subject, he was still one of the better students in Advanced Charms.

Scorpius supposed that Theo was probably still angry at him for pulling that prank on him with Nathan earlier this morning. Theo always tended to hold grudges against people that had, in his opinion, 'wronged him' – that oversensitive little Hufflepuff.

"Yeah. Scott might seem like a complete wanker sometimes, but he really is the best in our year in Charms, believe it or not," Scorpius admitted.

Hermione nodded. "Are you going to the library as well?"

"Yes, to return this book." Scorpius held up the tome he had been reading moments ago. "And to work on the Herbology homework for Friday."

Hermione nodded again and they continued to walk to the library together, making small talk. When they reached the doors, Hermione was struck with a sudden idea. The solution to her 'Pucey-problem' – it was standing right in front of her! She only had to find a clever way to make her 'solution' cooperate with her.

Hermione cleared her throat. "Say Scorpius, you said that you we're going to work on your Herbology homework, is that correct?"

"Yes."

"Were you planning on doing your homework here in in the library?"

"Yes, the book I need is one from the non-lending collection. So I have to work here."

"Oh, that's _practical_... I mean, would you, um, like to come and sit with us? With your friend and I?"

Scorpius questionably raised a brow at her, but said nothing.

Hermione decided to be honest. "Please come with me, Scorpius. I don't want to be there with Pucey alone. He keeps waggling his eyebrows at me and I was told that that was not a good thing."

Scorpius laughed at her explanation. Yes, eyebrow-waggling was definitely not a good thing when it came to Scott.

"He makes me feel a bit uncomfortable. Come with me, please."

Ah, so that was the reason why she wanted him to be there for: to rap Scott over the knuckles should he try or say anything funny. Scorpius supposed he could do that. He could be the rescuer of a damsel in distress. "If it would make you feel better, I guess I could join you."

Hermione beamed at him. "Thank you!"

"You're welcome."

* * *

A/N: Some of you may have recognized from where I took the title of this chapter. That's like my favourite quote from 'My Immortal' ever. Another quote I also really like is Dumbledore a.k.a. Dumblydore yelling 'What the hell are you doing, you motherfuckers?' at Draco and Ebony. It doesn't really have anything to do with this story, but I couldn't decide what to name this chapter, so used this random quote. No plagiarism intended.

I also took an idea from a HP spoof picture I saw a while ago and used it in this story (the hair and the commercial thing). Here's the http-link to the picture:

:/ / fueledbycola DOT tumblr DOT com / post / 797219329 / hermione-mean-girls

And here are the_ TRANSLATIONS _for the French parts_:_

Rose, ne frappe pas ta sœur! = Rose, don't hit your sister!

Maman, elle m'a provoqué! = Mum, she provoked me!

J'ai juste dit la vérité. Son ex n'a pas de couilles. = I simply stated the truth. Her ex-boyfriend doesn't have any balls.

Clémentine, sois gentille avec ta sœur. = Clémentine, be nice to your sister.


	13. Chapter 13: Glitter and Sparkle

A/N: This chapter was betaed by RichelleBrinkley.

* * *

Chapter 13: Glitter and Sparkle

* * *

Hermione and Scorpius entered the study room shortly after five and found Scott already waiting there.

"Hello, Pucey," Hermione greeted cheerily as she placed her bag next to the table and sat down.  
Scott looked up from his book and greeted her in return, seeming somewhat confused when he registered Scorpius' presence.

"Hey Granger... and Scorpius? What a surprise to see _you_ here."

Hermione did not miss the 'you've-got-to-be-kidding-me' look that Pucey gave his friend, who simply shrugged, sat down and immediately began flipping through his Herbology tome.

"Yes, it's a nice surprise, isn't it? I was on my way here when I bumped into Scorpius. When he told me that he was going to work in the library, I thought I'd invite him along to sit with us. So he wouldn't have to sit all by himself." Scott nodded numbly at her, but his eyes were still fixed on Scorpius. Hermione could tell that Scorpius wasn't even bothering to hide his smirk.

"Okay. The more the merrier, I guess."

* * *

Hermione couldn't help but frown at Scott's instruction. "But that's not how the instructions in the book go. It says right here – flick your hand like this," she pointed the passage in the book out to Pucey and demonstrated the hand movement.

Scott pulled the book from her grasp and put it away. "I know, but my method is better. Try it," he encouraged her.

Hermione looked at him sceptically. She very much doubted that his method could be any better than the one the school book gave them. After all, the book was ministry-approved and the Ministry would surely only choose the best for the students' education, wouldn't they?

_This was… this was like Harry's Potions book in sixth year all over again! Following instructions not given in the books. Hmph!_

"Come on, let's see it," Scott urged and repeated the motion one more time for her to repeat. Albeit not being convinced, Hermione did as she was told – and was pleasantly surprised when Scott's method worked considerably better indeed.

"See? I'm the best in Charms for good reason, you know?" her tutor told her with a cheeky grin.

Hermione had to admit that she was impressed. _Who would have thought?_

Hermione and Scott practiced several other charms on the figurine that Scott had brought along over the next half hour. Every now and then, Scorpius would look up from his essay and put in his tuppence worth before returning to his work. Scott, who had been irritated enough that his friend had tagged along with Hermione, got more and more irritated with each interruption. Eventually, when he was interrupted for what seemed like the twentieth time, Pucey kicked Scorpius' shin, hard. His friend winced visibly at the attack, but recovered quickly and certainly didn't waste any time retaliating. He swung his leg and kicked back just as hard. Only he, unlike Scott, didn't hit the right target.

"OUCH!" Hermione yelped in pain, bending down to clutch at her leg. _What on earth?_  
Scorpius flinched. _Fuck, how had her leg had gotten there?_

"Shit. I'm sorry, Hermione. I didn't mean to kick you. I was just… stretching," Scorpius apologized profusely before sending a glare at his roommate, who was shaking with silent laughter.

"Well, please do stretch a little more carefully next time," Hermione complained, inspecting her leg and rubbing the spot Scorpius had kicked.

"That's definitely going to bruise. You've got to be more careful around ladies, mate," Scott commented and quickly cast a cooling charm on Hermione's leg. And then just to annoy Scorpius, he ran his fingers over Hermione's leg slowly, causing her to blush madly.

If looks could kill, Scott Pucey would have died an excruciating death by his roommate that evening.

* * *

"No, the movement needs to be more fluid. Like this. Your movement is too choppy," Scott corrected Hermione.

Scorpius watched as Hermione tried to mimic the movement, but failed. Being the well-raised gentleman he was, Scorpius decided to help her out. "Here, let me show you," he moved to sit closer to her.

Hermione was taken by surprise at his sudden proximity, but allowed it anyway. If she wanted to receive better marks in Charms, then no offer for help should be refused. However what Hermione didn't count on was how her helper's arm found its way around her back to get hold of her right hand.

"See? Like this." Hermione nodded slowly, even though she actually wasn't 'seeing' what Scorpius was showing her. For some reason Hermione felt too distracted. Scorpius being so close gave her this really… _funny_ feeling. Hermione couldn't quite determine whether it was a good or a bad funny, but she could definitely say that she didn't feel uncomfortable with Scorpius the way she had with Pucey, when he had touched her leg.

"Um, c-could you, err, could you perhaps show me again?" God, did she just _stutter_? Hermione mentally slapped herself.

Scorpius nodded. "Sure." Hermione felt herself leaning into him when he repeated the motion with her one more time. She noticed how her funny feeling was becoming even _funnier_ and decided that it wasn't a bad funny at all…

"Got it?" asked Scorpius, his breath warm near her ear.

"Yes," Hermione answered, feeling oddly breathless as goose bumps crept down her neck to the rest of her body.

However Hermione couldn't dwell on this moment for long – a loud cough interrupted her thoughts and she quickly slid out of Scorpius' embrace before glancing over to Pucey and clearing her throat awkwardly. Her tutor returned the awkwardness, staring at her and Scorpius. The latter had already gone back to what he had been doing before helping Hermione, refusing to participate in their staring game.

"Okay... Now that you seem to have gotten the hang on it, do try yourself," said Scott before motioning towards Scorpius, "_Without_ his help."

"Yes, of course," Hermione answered sheepishly and quickly cast the charm. This time it worked perfectly.

* * *

Hermione added a short note to the instruction in the book and was about to ask Pucey another question, when she suddenly felt something brushing against her leg. Looking down, she found her fluffy pet staring and loudly purring at her.

"Puffball," she cooed and scooped the kitten up onto her lap.

"That's one plushy cat you got there," commented Scott.

Hermione smiled. "Yes, he's cute, isn't he?"

"He is," Pucey agreed and leaned over to pet Puffball. Puffball enjoyed the attention and immediately went over to rub himself all over the Slytherin, leaving a visible layer of orange fur on his shirt.

"Err, sorry about that. He's losing fur like crazy. I really need to remember to brush Puffball more often," Hermione apologized.

"Don't worry about it. Let's get back to work, shall we?"

"Of course," said Hermione and sat the kitten to her right. When Puffball realized that no one was going to pay him further attention, he decided to seek other options – someone who would appreciate his presence and not ignore him. It didn't take Puffball long to find his next target. An old acquaintance: it was the pale and loud human who had dared to trap him in a box twice not too long ago.

Puffball crept over to the unsuspecting boy and sat down on said boy's notes. He then proceeded to lazily lick his fur clean whilst ignoring all of the boy's attempts to get him to budge. Nobody was going to chase him away! He liked it where he was just fine, thank you very much.

Scorpius wasn't happy about being stuck with Psycho-cat again. Initially he tried to shoo the kitten away with words as nicely as possible, but eventually resorted to poking the cat with his wand when it just wouldn't move. All the poking only provoked Puffball to lie down, now not only keeping him from completing his essay, but also claiming his Herbology book as a pillow. Scorpius decided to change tactics, pulling his book and notes from under that cat carefully. The furry creature, of course, wasn't having any of that and quickly dug its claws into the papers, effectively preventing Scorpius from taking away his comfy sleeping accommodation.

Scorpius groaned quietly. _This cat was just as difficult as his owner!_

In the meantime, Scott was explaining another spell to Hermione. He waved his wand in direction of the small figurine in demonstration; however instead of hitting the intended target his spell found a different mark: namely, Hermione's cat.

The kitten walked right into the line of fire the exact moment Scott aimed the spell at the small figurine. The prodding and poking had eventually peeved Puffball so much that he decided to leave the annoying pale human, but, of course, only after having properly crumpled said boy's parchments, smeared his ink and, last but not least, left a few new scratch marks on his hands. But then when Puffball had been on his way to his kind and caring human, something terrible happened.

"What did you do?" exclaimed Hermione as Puffball puffed his already voluptuous fur in outrage and hissed menacingly at his 'attacker'.

"I was… I was going to show you the spell, but your cat was in the way. I didn't do this on purpose, I swear," Scott answered nervously, holding up his hands and pleading innocence.

Hermione paid him no heed, continuing to stare at her cat – her now glittering and sparkling cat to be exact. Although she wasn't a hundred per cent sure, Hermione was willing to bet that slight glow emitted by her kitten wasn't just her imagination. When she somewhat recovered from the shock, Hermione glared accusingly at her tutor and pointed at her cat. "Look at what you did to him! He's _sparkling_! You better change him back to normal right this instant, Pucey!"

The Slytherin nodded quickly and bent over the table to grab the cat. Puffball, however, had other ideas. He had had enough of these humans and wasn't going to let them do horrible things to him again. So when the hands came descending down upon him, he quickly dodged them and made a jump from the table.

"Oh, you did not just do that. You did _not_ just petrify my cat," Hermione said incredulously.

"I did."

"Yes, I can see that! How dare you? _My poor Puffball_!"

Scott shrugged nonchalantly and picked the cat up off the floor. "Well, he was going to run away otherwise. You still do want me to change him back, don't you? I could leave him like this, if you like. Don't girls like glittery, sparkly things?"

Hermione still looked anything but amused. "I suppose some girls do, but not if it's their pet!"

"Oh. Well, give me a moment to fix this then."

Whilst Scott worked on the cat, Hermione and Scorpius made small talk.

"I've been there a couple of times with my parents. We have some relatives from my mother's side living there and would spend every other summer holidays in France. I went last time when I was fifteen."

"I've only been there once. My mother loves Switzerland, so we usually go there. But if I'm perfectly honest, I actually prefer to stay home during holidays. There's no place like home, especially if you live in one of the dorms in the Hogwarts dungeons for most time of the year – with guys like him over there," said Scorpius and nodded at Scott, who flipped him the bird before continuing to work on the cat.

"Admittedly, it could have been worse. I could have ended up in the other dorm with Theo and Nathan. Nathan snores like hell; not sure how Theo can deal with that," Scorpius continued.

"What's up with that anyway? How come you actually have more than one dorm room for the boys in our year in Slytherin? Usually there's only one for each year."

"Yes, it used to be that way, but if you think about it, it's quite stupid. We have this huge castle, so why not make use of the rooms instead of trying to squeeze students into one dorm? Our year is quite large as you've probably already noticed. We are between seventy to eighty students."

"Seventy-one," Scott interjected.

"The baby boom generation, you know," Scorpius added with an eye roll.

Hermione laughed. "Okay."

"I'm not sure if all houses do it, but I think it's only fair that we get several dorms since we are stuck in the dungeons – while you Gryffindors and Ravenclaws have your pretty little cosy towers and the Hufflepuffs get – well, wherever the Hufflepuffs live."

"I heard they are somewhere in the basement near the kitchens."

"Okay, that doesn't sound that great either, but I'm pretty sure they have several dorms as well. At least I hope they do. Our year is overcrowded with Hufflepu–"

"_HA_! Got it! All perfect now!" Scott announced triumphantly, interrupting Scorpius.

However this enthusiasm was not shared by the person it was directed to. Hermione looked even more peeved than she had been when Puffball was 'Glamour Cat' as Scott had dubbed him.

"Pucey! What did you do to my cat?" she screeched.

Scott looked at her in confusion. "What do you mean, 'what did you do to my cat'? I changed your cat back to the way it was. See, no more glitter and sparkle," he answered casually, holding up the petrified cat, turning it around in different angles for her to see.

"Yes, I can see that Puffball is no longer glittering and sparkling! What I mean is the colour of his fur! It's _white_!"

"Yeah, so?" Pucey answered slowly, not understanding what she was getting at.

"So? His fur used to be ginger. Puffball is a ginger cat! Not white!"

"You sure about that, Granger? I'm pretty sure he always looked like this," the Slytherin answered as he frowned down at the cat.

"No, he did not always look like this! Change him back! Make his fur ginger again!"

Scorpius watched them arguing with amusement. "I don't know, Hermione. Are you really sure? I must say that I have to agree with Scott here. I remember him being white and not ginger. Maybe you're just confusing things." Of course Scorpius knew that the cat had been ginger, but he still wanted to screw with her mind anyway.

"No, I'm not confusing anything. Puffball is a ginger cat. So don't you two go and try to tell me otherwise!"

"Hermione, I think I would know what colour his fur had. After all, I was the one got him for you. He's always been white. I think you're confusing him with the cat you had before him – Shankcrooks."

Scott quickly nodded in agreement to Scorpius' comment.

"It's _Crookshanks_, and while I might not have bought Puffball, he's has been my pet for over a month now. So I think I'd know what colour his fur had! His fur was definitely _not_ white! See all the cat hair on his sweater?" argued Hermione as she pointed at Scott. How dare they try telling her that she didn't remember her cat's fur colour correctly?

"Make his fur the way it was again!"

Scott scratched the back of his neck nervously, looking a bit lost. "I… I don't know how to. I mean, it's easy to change the colour of an inanimate object, but as you probably know, charms on animate things are a little more complex. Besides, it's not like the cat is awful-looking or anything. His fur is just white now. I'm actually pretty sure that the charm will wear off in a few hours. If not, we'll try again tomorrow, deal? Let's just wrap up today's lesson."

Hermione considered his suggestion for a moment, holding her cat protectively to her chest.  
"All right," she agreed reluctantly and Scott let out a long breath, happy that she was being calm and cooperative.

* * *

"You know, normally when a guy likes a girl, he simply asks her out. He _does not_ tag along to join her tutoring lessons," Scott said in annoyance after Hermione left.

"Just so you know, I didn't plan on coming here. Hermione asked me to join the two of you – so I did."

His friend scoffed. "Yeah, right. That's the only reason you decided to come along. It wasn't to mark your territory at all. I didn't even know you were still interested in her, since you haven't made any moves on her since that night. Seriously, could you have been any more annoying? I halfway expected you stand up, lift your leg and mark her with your piss," Scott complained and handed Scorpius back the quill he had borrowed earlier.

"I just helped her out a bit. And marking her? I wouldn't dream of it – although the idea is kind of funny. But I'm sure she'd probably castrate me, should I ever dare."

Scott shuddered visibly at the thought. "Yeah, she does seem like the kind who would, doesn't she? But about helping her – I'm her tutor, not you. So don't ever pull shit like that on me again. She came to _me_ for help, not _you_," he warned, stuffing his Charms book back into his bag roughly.

"Actually it was Theo who came to you," Scorpius corrected.

"Same difference. Look, I'm almost afraid to ask… Are you planning on coming to all tutoring lessons now? You're my friend, but you're annoying as fuck. I don't think I can take another tutoring lesson with you present."

"Do I look like I want to spend my free time getting tutored, when I already have a mark I'm perfectly content with? I couldn't have been more bored."

Scott sighed in genuine relief. "Oh, thank Merlin. As for being bored – you could have just left us alone and worked on your essay or whatever it was that you were working on. You know, instead of interrupting me every three minutes?"

"I would have, but your constant chit-chat was pretty distracting."

Scott stared at him in disbelief. "Chit-chat? That was hardly– ugh, you know what? Let's just go to the Great Hall for dinner. Discussions with you drain my energy." _Bloody friends working his last nerve!_


	14. Chapter14Freezing in a Winter Wonderland

A/N: This chapter was betaed by RichelleBrinkley. Thank you!

* * *

Chapter 14: Freezing in a Winter Wonderland

* * *

"You look like you're feeling a bit cold," a familiar voice called.

"I think that's an understatement," Hermione said dryly as she turned to look at the speaker. Her response had been mumbled through her scarlet scarf, wrapped around her neck and half her face to shield against the cold. Hermione hated the cold.

Admittedly, the Hogwarts grounds were looking beautiful covered in a sparkling blanket of snow. It was an absolutely breath-taking, borderline picturesque – Hermione would never deny that.

But why did it have to be so _cold_ at the same time? Couldn't the grounds look beautiful without these freezing temperatures? Why oh _why_ had she had let the girls talk her into coming with them? Hermione cursed their persuasiveness. Despite the many layers of clothing she was wearing, Hermione was still freezing her butt off – and to think she could be sitting in front of the warm and cosy fireplace in the common room right now! But here she was; hiding behind a tree from her crazed friends, who had, much to her horror, decided to start a snowball fight just as Scorpius had approached her. Speaking of those crazies…

"Oh bother! There's Hannah!" Hermione squeaked and quickly pressed herself against a tree, trying her best to stay invisible. Only when Hannah ran past without noticing her, Hermione allowed herself a sigh of relief. That had been a close call!

Her companion looked amused by her behaviour. His eyes were dancing with mirth.  
"I'm glad my predicament serves as source of amusement to you." Hermione stepped back from the tree with a sniff.

Scorpius smiled impishly at her. "You'd laugh too if you were me. You're highly entertaining."

Hermione dismissed him with a lazy wave of her hand. She was in high danger and had no time for arguing. What she needed to do now was to peek around her tree to make sure that she was still safe in her hiding spot.  
Scorpius gave her an once-over as she did this. By the way she was dressed, you would assume that they were somewhere in the Artic and not Scotland. Her look reminded Scorpius of lot of his mother and how she always used to wrap his younger self up in the wintertime. His mother would go completely overboard and dress him up in so many layers that he could hardly walk. Malicious tongues even compared his restricted movements to those of characteristic of a penguin. Although to be fair, he had never been frozen.

A sudden idea caused Scorpius to laugh out loud, catching Hermione's attention. She glanced at him in confusion. "What's so funny?"

"Oh, nothing," he answered casually and he stepped in front of her. Hermione's frown deepened when Scorpius placed both hands on her arms to push them down to her sides. Before Hermione could ask what on earth he thought he was doing, Scorpius had already let go of her arms and laughed even harder.

Annoyance coloured Hermione's voice. "Hey! Why are you laughing?"

"I was jus–," Scorpius said in between laughter, "…I was just checking if your arms would bounce back up, if I pushed them down to your sides. I was so sure they would – and I was right! I bet you would bounce off walls like a bouncy ball if someone shoved you."

"Don't laugh at me! I'm wearing all these clothes so I won't freeze to death," Hermione said defensively, sticking her nose defiantly in the air. She honestly couldn't care less about the fact that she was looking like a female equivalent to the Michelin Man at the moment. Scorpius had better not be thinking of shoving her!

Speaking of, he was still laughing.

"Stop laughing. It's not funny," Hermione demanded, poking him in the shoulder for more effect.

"I beg to differ."

"Stop it," Hermione repeated, but suddenly found herself struggling to contain her own laughter. Scorpius' laughter was annoyingly infectious. Damn him for making her laugh when she didn't want to!

* * *

"Why don't you move around a bit? You know, exercise. It'll warm you up and it's much more fun than hiding behind trees," Scorpius suggested and motioned to her shield. "We could, for instance, go ice-skating on the Black Lake. How about it?"  
Hermione nibbled her lower lip as she contemplated his idea. Exercise to keep her from turning into an icicle... it sounded like a good idea.

"So, you want to go?" asked Scorpius. Hermione hesitated as she glanced over to the Black Lake. _It was so crowded…_

"I don't know. I do like ice-skating, but I always get a bit paranoid when there are so many people on the ice. I'm afraid that when it's so crowded, someone will accidentally skate over my fingers and chop them off when I fall…"

Scorpius looked disgusted. "You have really macabre thoughts. I hope you know that."

Hermione looked at him sheepishly. "I'm sorry, but I read about something like that in the newspaper once."

"Well, never mind. I guess ice-skating is out of the question then. How about the snowball fight? Why not join your friends?" Scorpius suggested.

Hermione shook her head, dismissing the idea immediately. "Too violent. My friends may be girls, but they are merciless. They're taking this fight way too seriously. I mean, just _look at them_!" Scorpius turned his gaze to where her finger was pointing. He winced audibly when a snowball, thrown by Weasley, hit straight home and landed squarely on his co-Head's forehead. The Head Girl stumbled and fell from the impact.

Why Rose Weasley never thought of joining the Gryffindor Quidditch team, Scorpius never understood. She would make a damn good chaser, if you asked him. _Terrific aim that one!__  
_  
"You really think I should expose myself to_ that_?" asked Hermione.

"Probably not," Scorpius conceded and shoved his hands into his pockets.

Hermione looked sideways at him. "You know... I think it'd be fun to make snow angels."

"You mean a snow man," Scorpius corrected her immediately in a know-it-all manner. Hermione shook her head. "No, I meant snow _angel_." She plopped down into the snow.

Scorpius' crinkled his brow in confusion before his expression morphed into one of horror as Hermione proceeded to lie down and started moving her arms and legs in a jumping-jack movement like a mad person.

"What in Merlin's name are you doing?" Scorpius whisper-yelled, looking around worriedly to make sure nobody was watching them. While he knew that the cold could cause serious cases of frostbite, Scorpius had never known that it could cause serious brain damage as well. But now he had proof for it: the batty girl lying in the snow in front of him.

"I already told you - I'm making a _snow angel_," Hermione explained and stood back up to admire her handiwork. "See? That's a snow angel. I think that's my best one so far!"

Scorpius glanced down at her masterwork. _Oh_, so that was what her crazy act had been all about! He smiled as he eyed the angel design in the snow. "You are one odd girl, Hermione Granger," he told her with a smile.

Hermione grinned and went to lie down in the snow again. She looked up at Scorpius and patted the spot next to her, gesturing him to join her.

"Nah, I think I'll leave the snow angels to you," Scorpius declined politely. He was good where he was, thank you very much.

Hermione, however, wasn't letting him off that easily, and continued patting the snow beside her. "Come on, don't be a spoil sport."

Scorpius shook his head, but the sound of Hermione patting the snow continued.

"Come on!"

Scorpius sighed and reluctantly made his way over to his classmate. Making sure there were no onlookers, Scorpius sat down stiffly in the snow and rolled his eyes playfully at Hermione, who was grinning madly at him.

_Snow angel, here we go!_

* * *

"Nice work," said Hermione as she eyed Scorpius' snow angel approvingly. _Not bad for a beginner.__  
_  
"Thanks. I'm glad you think so," Scorpius replied casually as he brushed snow from his clothes.  
Hermione nodded to herself. "Not as good as mine, but you'll get there someday, I'm sure."

"It's good to know that someone sees my potential." Scorpius replied and both started chuckling.

Hermione shivered as a cool breeze blew over them. "As fun as this has been, I'm actually much colder than I was before. Lying in the snow wasn't such a good idea after all. Maybe we shou–," Hermione started to say, but was cut off by a chipper: "Hey, Scorpius!"

The voice belonged to a pretty blonde that Hermione vaguely recalled sharing several classes with. If she remembered correctly, the girl was in Ravenclaw.

"Hey," Scorpius greeted the girl, who donned a forest green parka and smiled sweetly at him.

"Hello, Hermione," the Ravenclaw proceeded to greet her politely. However, before Hermione was able to say anything back, the girl already had her back turned and was eagerly talking to the Head Boy.

* * *

Hermione shifted her feet awkwardly as she watched her two classmates conversing. She had always considered the Ravenclaw girl nice enough, having talked to her a few times and been partnered with her once; but now Hermione was seriously reconsidering her opinion. Truth to be told, the way the girl was behaving at the moment was downright rude! It annoyed Hermione how the girl was excluding her from conversation, even when Scorpius tried to include her.

It was more than obvious that Ravenclaw Girl was interested in the Head Boy in more than friendly manner – she would too often touch his arm and laugh at things he said (even though they weren't _that_ funny in Hermione's opinion). Or by the way she had had her back turned to Hermione the entire time after the greeting to marginalize her and make her "go away".

Hermione rolled her eyes every time praises such as "You were amazing that match! It's a pity you don't play anymore!" or "Really, Scor? That is so exciting – not to mention hilarious! I wish I had been there to see it!" were exclaimed.

It was pathetic, really.

Giggle, giggle. _Oh yes, and the giggling business. So very pathetic._

"… making snow angels," Scorpius explained and motioned to their imprints in the snow.  
"Oooh! How fun!" Ravenclaw Girl promptly exclaimed, and this time Hermione mentally retched behind her back.

Although Hermione had been entertaining the idea of leaving her two classmates to go off to find her dorm mates in hope they had finished their silly war, Hermione eventually decided on something else. If Ravenclaw Girl thought she could be rude to her, well, Hermione decided that she could be rude right back! Hermione stepped forward and took a hold of Scorpius' hand. Both Ravenclaw Girl and Scorpius watched her with raised brows.

"You know, Scorpius, I think I'd like to go ice-skating like you suggested earlier," Hermione announced and pulled him closer by the hand. Ravenclaw Girl's eyes narrowed at their clasped hands whilst Scorpius just looked plain confused.  
"If you'll excuse us," Hermione then told Ravenclaw Girl with a big (fake) smile before she pulled Scorpius away towards the lake. She could hardly contain the glee and almost started giggling herself (but did not, as Hermione Granger _never_ giggles) when she saw the girl's indignant expression. _Hah! She surely must have not expected that one!_

* * *

Scorpius quickly waved the blonde-haired girl goodbye as he was being led (or _dragged_, to be more specific) away by Hermione.  
He wasn't going to lie and say that he wasn't surprised by Hermione's behaviour towards Cecelia. Whilst he had to admit that Cecelia had been a tad rude by the way she excluded Hermione, he had never expected such reaction from Hermione. He was actually quite sure that Cecelia hadn't been rude on purpose since she was a pretty nice girl. She was well-liked by most people.

_Well, never mind._ It didn't really matter now anyway as he being dragged off to the Black Lake to go ice-skating.

Whilst Hermione's sudden change of mind surprised him, he couldn't say that he minded. After all, he had suggested this idea earlier. Although he couldn't help but wonder where her fear of getting her cute little fingers skated off had disappeared to.

* * *

Hermione was laughing gleefully on the inside. _That face!_ It had been priceless! Hopefully that would teach the girl a lesson and she'd remember to be more polite to people in the future! Hermione was glad to be finally rid of her.  
However, a sudden thought deflated her good mood quickly: What if Scorpius had actually wanted to be around Ravenclaw Girl, liked her and wanted her to flirt with him?

_Oh no! What had she done?!_ She had just pulled him away because _she_ was annoyed by Ravenclaw Girl without even considering him!

Hermione groaned and stopped walking abruptly.

"Something wrong?" Scorpius immediately asked, looking at her questioningly. Hermione looked down to the ground in embarrassment.

"Scorpius, I'm sorry. I wasn't thinking about… I forgot to think about the possibility that you actually like her and enjoyed talking to her. She certainly seemed to like you _a lot._ And I just dragged you away, because I felt annoyed by her and–"

Scorpius smiled and motioned her to stop talking. "Don't fret. It's alright. There's no need to apologize. I didn't mind. Really, I don't. And I did suggest ice-skating after all, so…"

Hermione nodded unsurely and they both started off again. Soon another thought popped into her mind that made her feel even more embarrassed about her behaviour. She must have looked like a bitchy, possessive girl trying to stake claim to Malfoy! And that had _definitely _not been her intention! She wasn't interested in staking claim to anything here, much less a boy.

_Oh, how embarrassing!_

She was willing to bet that Scorpius felt just as embarrassed by her, but was too polite to say so. Hermione nervously risked a sideways glance at her friend.

However, instead of finding a boy who looked deeply embarrassed, the boy she saw looked everything but. For some reason he seemed rather smug. _Why was that?_

* * *

When they arrived at Black Lake, Hermione suddenly became aware of their still-joined hands, and frowned down at them. _Why were they still clasped together?_

"Um, Scorpius? My right hand is my wand hand and I don't think it's a good idea for me to try to use my left. The transfiguration spell might go horribly wrong," Hermione said awkwardly as she nodded at their joined hands.

"Right, sorry," Scorpius apologized and disconnected their fingers. This almost caused Hermione to regret asking him to, instead of just giving the spell a try with her left hand. It wasn't as if she had actually wanted them to walk and skate around holding her hands. They were just friends.

It was the warmth of his hand that she had liked, because her hand had been so cold. _That was all, really._

* * *

A/N: Anyone else with the fear of getting their precious fingers sliced off by ice skate blades? It's definitely one of mine alongside ophiophobia (fear of snakes), acrophobia (fear of heights) and the fear of getting attacked by a shark when swimming in the ocean (whatever that phobia is called).

Sometimes apeirophobia (fear of infinity) bothers me a little, too (drives you crazy, if you think too much about it) and of course, the occasional catoptrophobia (fear of mirrors) after having watched particularly scary horror movies.

I used to have, like many other people who are familiar with Stephen King's "IT", coulrophobia (fear of clowns).

And I'm not sure why I'm telling you all of this… Well, never mind. Let's continue.

Apparently there is even this thing called arachibutyrophobia, which is the fear of having peanut butter sticking to the roof of your mouth. Why anyone would have a phobia of that, I can't imagine, but then again, I don't care, because I don't like peanut butter anyway.

I also read that the fear of your mother-in-law is something called novercaphobia, hahaha! Okay, that one is probably not very funny to a lot of married people. My apologies.


	15. Chapter 15: Awkward Encounters

A/N: This chapter was betaed by RichelleBrinkley. Thanks!

* * *

Chapter 15: Awkward Encounters

* * *

Hermione leaned against a tree and tapped her wand against her skates, turning the footwear back to its normal state. Scorpius followed suit, repeating the action on his own pair. "I hope all your limbs are still attached?" he asked.

Hermione held up her hands and wiggled her fingers at him. "Yes, all ten fingers are in perfect condition."

"Are you sure? Your left index finger looks kind of funny to me," Scorpius joked, and Hermione playfully stuck her tongue out at him. When Scorpius unexpectedly reached up to run his fingers through a loose strand of Hermione's hair, their eyes met briefly before Scorpius quickly pulled away, eyes wide.

"Uh, you had something in your hair," he quickly explained, showing her the piece of lint between his fingers.

"Oh! Thanks for, um, getting it out," answered Hermione, suddenly feeling very flustered. She broke eye contact once again, glancing awkwardly towards the ground. _Why was she feeling so shy all of a sudden? She hadn't felt shy with him before. There was no reason to feel shy about a friendly gesture… _

But before Hermione could dwell on those thoughts much longer, a familiar voice hailed her companion.

"Scorpius, thank goodness you're here!" Isabelle exclaimed as she approached them, dragging two younger students alongside her. Hermione couldn't tell whether the boys looked more embarrassed or exasperated.

"I just broke up a fight between these two fourth years, but they are still far from being friendly to each other. This one right here clocked that one in the face as you can see," she gestured and gave both boys a reproachful look. They boys ignored her and glared menacingly at each other.

Scorpius sighed as he took in the state of both students: two sets of very rumpled clothes; snow all over said clothes which obviously pointed to a scramble in the snow and two very angry red faces with one cut and slightly bleeding lip.

"All right, so what exactly is the problem here?" Scorpius asked calmly, but immediately regretted doing so. Upon hearing the Head Boy's question both boys started yelling their version of events at the same time, making it impossible for anyone to understand what they were saying.

Isabelle and Scorpius shared a look. _The joys of being a Head Student!_

"SHUT UP!" Scorpius eventually yelled in such an intimidating manner that even Hermione jumped back a little in fright. Both boys immediately fell silent, watching Scorpius with wide eyes.

"Okay, now let's try this again. But this time only one at a time. How about you start telling me what happened first," Scorpius ordered to the boy with the Slytherin scarf to talk.

"_Everybody keeps butchering my name_!" the dark-skinned boy yelled in frustration, throwing his arms in the air to emphasize his outrage. "It's Zabini – _not_ Zambini! But everybody keeps calling me that to annoy me and it's really pissing me off! _I've had enough_!"

Isabelle gave him a sympathetic smile and put a hand on his shoulder. "Zabini, I understand that this must be very frustrating for you, but that still doesn't justify your actions. You can't just go and punch a fellow student. You should have gone to either me or Scorpius, a prefect or a professor about your problem."

"But he was totally asking for it!" Zabini bit back defensively, not appreciating being lectured when he felt so wronged.

This, of course, didn't sit well with his classmate. "I wasn't the only one calling you that! Lots of others did, too! It was meant as a _joke_! You're blowing this whole thing completely out of proportion. You need to learn how to take a joke!

"Well, guess what? _It wasn't funny_."

Isabelle motioned for Scorpius to intervene with a wave of her hand. Scorpius nodded and stepped between the boys who looked ready to pounce on each other again.

"Look, just because everyone else was calling him that, doesn't make it okay for you to do so as well. You knew that it offended Zabini, yet you still provoked him."

Zabini looked smugly at this over to his "tormentor", glad that finally something was done to put the people who dared to butcher his name in their place. His classmate caught the look and his fists clenched in anger.

"But that doesn't mean that it was all right for you to attack him," Scorpius then addressed Zabini and proceeded to give him a lecture as well.

The Gryffindor boy interrupted him mid-lecture. "Yeah, I didn't see you go and punch Professor Trelawney. She was the first person to call you that!"

Hermione, Isabelle and Scorpius exchanged confused looks. _Professor Trelawney started this?_

Hermione decided to step in. "Professor Trelawney called you that, too? She started this?" she asked for clarification. Zabini gave her a short nod, but was beaten to respond to Hermione's question by his sniggering classmate.

"Yes! His name–," the boy began and pointed at his attacker, "…on Professor Trelawney's list was spelled incorrectly, saying 'Zambini' instead of 'Zabini'. Professor Trelawney didn't realize this, so she kept calling him that for weeks, even though Zam–, uh, _Zabini_ here corrected her each time. Everyone in class thought it was funny, so we all called him that too."

Zabini had nothing to add to that and merely stood with his arms crossed over his chest angrily. Hermione felt bad for him. It seemed like Zabini Junior was living up to his family name and continuing the unfortunate family tradition that his father Blaise had started.

She could still recall clearly how mercilessly Blaise had been teased by his peers because of his name: the dance instructor who had helped Professor McGonagall prepare them for the Yule Ball had believed that 'Blaise' was a girl's name and had paired him accordingly with another male student. Of course, it hadn't helped that Zabini's hair had been on the longer side during that time (as had Harry's and Ron's, Hermione remembered with a cringe).

Scorpius gave Zabini a friendly clap on the shoulder. "Look kid, I'll talk to Professor Trelawney about this after dinner today. I'll also ask her to address the class and tell your classmates to stop teasing you, all right? If anyone still continues to call you that name after that, I'll make sure that the offenders will receive detentions and that House points will be docked."

This compromise seemed to soften Zabini up a bit, and he nodded. The boy from Gryffindor, however, didn't look pleased.

"But he still gets punished, right? For attacking me?" he prodded and pointed at his lower lip to remind everyone of his injury.

Isabelle decided to step in this time. "Yes, Demetrius. Zabini won't get away with attacking you. I think a weekend of detention and twenty points deducted from Slytherin is appropriate," she decided and looked to Scorpius for confirmation. The Head Boy nodded in agreement.

"And what about him?" Zabini was fast to demand and pointed at Demetrius. "Surely, he can't get away without any punishment either, can he?"

The Head Girl sighed quietly. "No, of course not. He'll join you in detention."

Upon hearing this, Zabini raised his eyebrows mockingly at his classmate. _Eat that, butt face!_

Hermione saw the exchange and decided then and there that this Demetrius kid was one hell of a patient 14 year-old boy. While she didn't condone violence, she would have understood if he clocked Zabini one now as well.

"You two will report to the Head's Office tomorrow at noon, so we can let you know when your detention starts," Scorpius added.

Zabini nodded grimly and Demetrius muttered a short, "Yeah." Then without another word, the Slytherin stormed off in direction of the castle – but of course not without bidding goodbye to his classmate with a rude hand gesture.

"Zabini!" the Head Girl called after him, but the boy pretended not to hear her and continued walking. Demetrius shook his head angrily. It took all his willpower not to run after Zabini and pummel him.

"How rude," he said angrily.

Isabelle gave him a stern look. "Well, you certainly weren't an angel either. Honestly, why did you have to provoke him?"

Demetrius looked innocent. "It was meant as a _joke_. How was I supposed to know that he would get so super offended?"

"I bet you would get just as offended if someone made jokes about your name. I know I wouldn't like it either," Isabelle countered sternly. She was eternally grateful being born a girl and not having to endure lame "morning wood" jokes like her father had and her older brother still did.

"Yes, but you wouldn't blow up like _that_. You would still be cool about it and act civilly. Not that I could think of a reason why someone would mock a beautiful name like yours, Isabelle," the fourth year replied charmingly, looking at the Head Girl appreciatively. Hermione and Scorpius hid their amused grins behind their hands at the boy's flirting attempts. Isabelle, however, was not having any of that.

"Demetrius?"

"Yes?" he asked hopefully.

"Just go," the Head Girl dismissed him. The boy pouted slightly, but left and re-joined his group of friends. Isabelle clapped a hand to her forehead and sighed deeply as Hermione and Scorpius laughed.

"What are you two laughing at?" Isabelle snapped at them, suspecting that they were laughing at her expense.

Hermione sobered up enough to answer her. "I think someone has a _huge _crush on the Head Girl. And it's so _cuute!_" She burst out laughing again. The Head Boy standing next to her wasn't faring any better; he was laughing so hard that he was in tears. Isabelle rolled her eyes in annoyance.

"Seriously, you lot. Childish much?"

Since she wasn't capable of talking, Hermione tried to look apologetically at her friend, but failed. Trying to give someone a convincing apology whilst laughing your arse off was something that was doomed to failure.

Isabelle grew more irritated with each second that passed. Being seventeen and having little fourteen year-olds hitting on you was_ not_ a laughing matter (not that her two friends over there cared).

"Oh shut it, you two."

Hermione pouted at her. "Aw, don't be like that, Isabelle. You and Demetrius would make an _adorable_ couple! Although you might want to wait a few of years until he's a bit older."

"Ha-ha, very funny."

"Come on, Isabelle. He's probably going to be a real stud in a few years," Hermione added teasingly.

Isabelle cocked her eyebrow and smirked at Hermione. "Well, of course you'd think so, Hermione. Demetrius is your ex-boyfriend's son after all. Makes sense for you to think that he's a looker," she revealed.

This shut Hermione up immediately. _What?_ That was _whose_ son?

Isabelle giggled quietly to herself. This had been the reaction she'd been hoping for. While she definitely felt a bit bad for catching Hermione so off guard, she thought that her roommate somewhat deserved it for making fun of her – _eye for an eye_.

Hermione looked completely weirded out and gaped disbelievingly at Demetrius Krum. _That was Viktor's son? How…_

"Awkward…" Hermione said dumbly, her eyes not leaving the boy once after Isabelle's revelation. Isabelle gave her a pat on the back.

"I imagine it must be," she said, more sympathetically this time.

It wasn't as if Hermione hadn't known that Viktor had gotten married and had children (Harry and Ron had told her that much), but she still felt very confused and caught off guard. _Seeing _it with her own eyes instead of just _hearing_ it – now there was a _huge_ difference in that!

Of course, she had had some time to come to terms with the fact that she and her ex-boyfriend could be no more and had learnt to accept that; however, that didn't mean that she didn't still have some lingering feelings for Viktor. She had been in a relationship with him for two and a half years, mind you. Now seeing one of his children was just incredibly confusing.

* * *

Scorpius frowned at Isabelle. _What the heck had she just done that for? Way to kill the good mood by bringing up stupid ex-boyfriends! _

If she kept this up, his co-Head was going to destroy all of his chances with Hermione. And things had been looking good for him, if he may say so! Especially with what had happened earlier today.

Sure, Hermione had seemed pretty annoyed by Cecelia, because, well, Cecelia had been rather rude. But he was willing to bet that there was than just that to her behaviour. Her actions couldn't have been just the result of being irritated with Cecelia, right? He'd dare say that Hermione also seemed a teeny weeny bit jealous there.

However, Isabelle had to come to ruin it all for him!

Scorpius cursed her under his breath. Although now that he thought about it, he could use Hermione's emotional state to his advantage! He could be the one to console and lend an ear to her…

_All right then: a change of tactics it is!_


	16. Chapter 16: Itsy Bitsy Spider

A/N: This chapter was proofread by my fabulous beta, RichelleBrinkley.

* * *

Chapter 16: Itsy Bitsy Spider

* * *

Comfort food; that was what she desperately needed right now – and lots of it. Isabelle's words still echoed in her ears and it stung terribly, even though Hermione knew that her friend had never intended to hurt her. _Your ex-boyfriend's son…_

Hermione's pace quickened as she steered towards her new destination: the Hogwarts kitchens. There, she planned on asking a friendly house elf for a big bucket of ice cream, preferably with sprinkles and strawberry flavour, to drown out her sorrows.

"Hey Hermione, wait up!" a voice called after her. Hermione, who had just been about to walk down the stairs to the basement, came to a halt mid-step.

"Is there anything I can help you with, Scorpius?" she asked politely, though not really interested in his answer. She hoped her friend had a good reason for causing a delay in her quest to raid the kitchens for comfort food.

"No, but I wanted to make sure you were all right. You seemed to be a tad… _upset_," Scorpius explained, eyeing her carefully.

"Oh! Yes, but don't worry. I'll be fine," Hermione assured him. At least she thought she would be okay once she had her food.

With that thought on her mind, Hermione waved Scorpius quick 'Adios!' and descended the stairs to the basement. Scorpius, however, decided to follow her again and strolled lazily beside her, hands stuffed into his pockets.

"Where are you heading to? Isn't your tower up the stairs in the northern part of the castle?" he asked, trying to make conversation with the quiet Hermione.

"Yes, but I'm not going back to the Gryffindor Tower. I'm on my way to the kitchens," Hermione explained, trying to recall the directions Harry had once given her. The Hogwarts kitchens were supposedly located directly under the Great Hall and its passageway hidden behind a large portrait of a bowl of fruits. Hermione hoped that Ron and Harry hadn't been taking the piss out on her when explaining that in order to get the portrait to swing open, you had to tickle the pear.

"_The kitchens? _You can't just march into the kitchens! Students aren't allowed to go in there!"  
Hermione stopped walking abruptly and shot Scorpius a withering glance. Scorpius gulped. That had _definitely_ been the wrong thing to say.

"Why? What are you going to do about it?" she asked him challengingly.

"Nothing. Absolutely nothing," Scorpius answered quickly, holding up his hands defensively and deciding that it was probably better not to play the Head Boy card just right now. Hermione watched him silently for a few seconds before she nodded approvingly and they both resumed walking.

* * *

Scorpius watched Hermione as she dug in heartily. _What was it with women and ice cream when they were upset?_

"You want to talk about it?" he finally asked after long minutes of silence (and a lot of dessert eating). Hermione lifted her head thoughtfully, contemplating his offer. Did she want to talk about it? Not really. But then again, maybe it would help.

She sighed. "I guess the whole situation has finally caught up to me. I mean, I always understood what this new situation meant for me – or at least I thought I did – but it's only now that I really understand… You know what I mean?"

"Yeah, I think so," Scorpius answered before they both fell into silence again.

Hermione dropped her spoon into the bowl. She was beginning to feel a bit sick from all the ice-cream she had consumed in record time. Not to mention the brain freeze she had suffered only minutes ago. And – _oh God_ – all the calories she had taken in! Although, then again, you could always a little hide extra weight under winter clothes. But, she still needed to remember not to make a habit out of food binges. Speaking of which…

"Want some?" she asked Scorpius, only now becoming aware of the fact that it was quite rude not to offer some of her dessert to him. Not that he couldn't have asked a house elf to bring him his own bowl – but still. Where were her manners? Scorpius declined politely, so Hermione continued eating. However after more three scoops, Hermione suddenly stabbed her spoon forcefully into the ice-cream. Scorpius eyed her apprehensively and subtly slid away from her a bit.

"Ugh! I wish I had this... whatever _this_ is – sooner! I would have been a lot more prepared if it had happened before and not now, _months_ after I've arrived here! I was happy – a perfectly happy camper!" Hermione ranted.

"Sometimes things happen when you least expect them to. Life's tricky like that sometimes," Scorpius offered. Hermione nodded glumly and began to play with her spoon.

"Since I've been here, I kind of just accepted everything without reflecting on it much, you know? I did accept on some level that this is reality now, but things still feel so unreal to me. Like a weird dream I'll be waking up from soon, so to speak. I'm not sure why exactly _that_, of all things made me snap like this.

"And I'm really sorry you have to sit here and listen to my moaning. It must be awful to be in my company right now. But don't worry – I'm not going to start crying on top of everything," Hermione quickly told Scorpius, then muttering quietly to herself, "At least I hope not."

"You need someone to talk to and I'm your friend. Don't worry about it. I want you to feel better. You can talk to me about this whenever you want," Scorpius answered and gave her hand a squeeze. If Hermione hadn't been so busy eating her food again, she would have hugged him for being such a sweet friend.

"Thank you. I guess I just need to do some… moping right now."

And mope she did. A lot moping was done over the course of the following week.

* * *

Scorpius was engrossed in a lively discussion about the upcoming Quidditch match with Flint when, all of a sudden, something (a roll of parchment, judging by the sound) hit his left shoulder none too gently. When he turned to look for the offender, Scorpius was surprised to find a cross-looking Hermione standing behind him.

"You think, you're really funny, don't you?" Hermione demanded before smacking him with her parchment again.

"_Ow_! Hey, what's _wrong_ with you?" Scorpius protested in confusion. Hermione's eyes narrowed.

"Are you really going to sit here and pretend you don't know what I'm talking about? _Fine_," Hermione huffed, planning on smacking him again, but Scorpius caught on and quickly snagged her wrist.

Scorpius stared at her in irritation. _What in seven hells was her problem?_ Scorpius thought that Hermione should consider herself lucky she was born a girl, because had she not, he would have taken her stupid parchment and smacked her right back! And to answer her question: yes, he had been complimented on many occasions on how humorous he was (but Scorpius knew better than to tell Hermione that).

"_Stop hitting me!_ Do you have the crazy or something?"

Hermione stopped her antics and huffed again. "You actually have the nerve to call me crazy, you rude idiot?" she demanded.

"_Yes_," Scorpius thought and crossed his arms over his chest. After all, here she was, hitting him for no apparent reason and that definitely qualified as crazy in his books. And rude? Him? He was the epitome of politeness!

"How dare you send me your Patronus and have it burp in my face!" Hermione fumed at him.

Scorpius looked puzzled at her accusation. "_What_?"

Hermione glared at him even harder. "You sent me your Patronus last night to let me know that you accidentally pocketed my wand. And when your Patronus was finished delivering your message, it _burped_ loudly at me!"

Scorpius was still as confused as ever, but tried to make sense of what Hermione had just told him. True, he had sent her his Patronus, but the burping thing? Why would she accuse him of something so ridiculous? Things only started to dawn to him when he heard a choking sound from a few seats away. _Theo_…Why was he friends with that idiot again?  
Luckily for Scorpius, said idiot proved himself a very loyal idiot, who immediately decided to clear up the mishap when he realised what was going on.

"Um, Hermione?" Theo interrupted the Gryffindor whilst scratching the back of his neck sheepishly. "I think I can explain this. It's kinda my bad; I happened to be in the room when Scorpius was speaking to his Patronus. And, uh, you see, when I chew gum, I tend to swallow a lot of air. And well, swallowing air, burping – I think you get the story…

"I'm sorry that you were burped at. I think Scorpius' Patronus was a bit confused and thought that it was part of Scorpius' message to you. You know his Patronus – it doesn't necessarily care about what's appropriate or not. It does what it wants to. I'm really sorry."

Muffled giggles from a pair of Hufflepuffs sounded across the room. Everyone still remembered the incident in Defence Against Dark Arts between her Patronus and Scorpius' clearly. Theo grinned at the two girls, who in turn only giggled harder.

Hermione shifted awkwardly in her spot as she processed what Theo had told her. _Now that changed things. _Not to mention made her feel like a complete idiot.

"Oh! I… um, that's all right, Theo. I know you'd never do something like that on purpose," Hermione said awkwardly, purposely avoiding any eye contact with Scorpius. She felt incredibly embarrassed and uncomfortable by her behaviour now. However, she tried to mask it the best she could when she turned to Scorpius again. Hermione inwardly cringed as she heard herself talking to Scorpius.

"Well, uh, next time you send someone a message, make sure to check it before so that your Patronus only delivers the intended content. And… yeah..." Hermione trailed off, not knowing how to continue. Before Scorpius could say anything, Hermione quickly walked off to the tables in the front of the classroom, leaving him gaping disbelievingly after her.

* * *

Scorpius couldn't believe her gall. First, she stomped over to him like a bloody harpy to yell at and verbally abuse him, and then when she learned that he hadn't been at fault, she just walked off without even apologizing? That little _bitch_.

He had always (well, _almost_ always) been nice to her and there when she needed a friend to talk to or someone who would listen to her; he had been there when she had her little breakdown, all patient and understanding, even giving her one of his very exclusive hugs. (More for his own sake than hers, he admitted. He had mostly been in it for the body contact, but still – it had also been to make her feel better and to comfort her.) And now she was repaying him by being bitchy! _How ungrateful!_

Sending her one last dirty look (which sadly went unnoticed) and drumming his fingers on the table in annoyance, Scorpius decided on something: he was going to ignore Hermione until she apologized to him as was prim and proper! He wasn't going to let her walk all over him, just because he was attracted to her – no! And if she wanted his friendship (and hopefully more) then she was going to have to put in an effort to show him that she valued their friendship!

* * *

Hermione felt awful. She felt really, _really_ awful for treating Scorpius the way she had this morning. And to make things worse, she hadn't even had the balls to apologize to him! All she did upon learning of his innocence was to make an unnecessary smart-arse comment. _Stupid, stupid, stupid!_

Now she was facing the consequences of her actions: Scorpius was ignoring her and pretending that she wasn't there – as if there were nothing but air where she sat. All this, whilst being perfectly pleasant and polite to the other member of their work group in Herbology.

The other member named _Cecelia_. Yes, _that girl_ from Ravenclaw, who, of course, was more than delighted with all the attention bestowed on her by the Head Boy. Not that Hermione cared about them making googly eyes at each other. _They could fancy each other for all they wanted. _She didn't care! However, Hermione did care about the fact that Scorpius was upset with her (and rightfully so).

The seriousness of Scorpius' anger presented itself very clearly when Hermione reached for one of the tools to start working on their plant, only to have Scorpius lean over the table quickly and snatch the tool away and hand it to Ravenclaw Girl. Even Ravenclaw Girl had seemed surprised by his actions, but quickly thanked him with a sweet "Thank you, Scor!" (Which was, of course, returned by an equally sweet "You're welcome, Cecelia.")

* * *

The next two days went by similarly. She was _still_ being ignored. Even her roommates had suggested that she go and apologize and Hermione agreed.

So, on the third day, Hermione decided to follow Scorpius out of the Great Hall after lunch.

Hermione wiggled through the throng of students who were lazily piling out of the Great Hall and blocking her way. Eventually Hermione got so annoyed that she resorted to pushing her way through the crowd (earning many outraged "Heys!") so that she wouldn't lose sight of Scorpius and even started jogging after him when the path was clear.

What was it with tall people and them thinking that making long strides was a good idea? Hermione recalled Harry and Ron being the same after their growth spurt in their 5th year and them always walking so damn quickly. Because of this, she had ended up jogging instead of comfortably walking beside them.

Hermione rounded the corner just in time to see Scorpius disappear into one of the classrooms that was sometimes used for Potions class. She caught the door before Scorpius could close it and was promptly met with an irritated sigh. The Head Boy's demeanour became even colder when he saw whom he had been followed by. He grabbed a chair and stared Hermione, who was standing nervously in the doorway, down with his glare.

"Yes?" he demanded. Hermione shuffled her feet and took a deep breath. She only hoped that her apology was going to be good enough for him.

"I came here to apologize," she began meekly and Scorpius nodded.

Hermione took this a good sign and continued, "I want to apologize for what happened two days ago – for yelling at you and for calling you a git. I wa–"

"Idiot."

* * *

Hermione stood there looking perplexed. Had Scorpius really just called her an _idiot_? In a way she was, but she was trying to apologize! However, he apparently still felt the need to call her names, implying that she could shove her apology up her _ars_–

"You called me an idiot, not a git," Scorpius interrupted her train of thought.

"Oh!" Hermione replied dumbly and mentally chastised herself for, _once again_, assuming things.

"Right... I'm sorry for calling you an idiot. If there was an idiot here in this room, it would be me and not you. I also want to apologize for hitting you. That was uncalled for and you have every right to be upset with me. I was wrong and I should have apologized a lot sooner and not waited two whole days for this. I'm very sorry for my behaviour and the way I treated you, Scorpius."

Silence followed the apology. Hermione's heart dropped when even after a minute, Scorpius said nothing in reply. Hermione's shoulders slumped in defeat. She had tried, but failed. He was not interested in burying the hatchet and forgiving her. It was probably best to leave him alone and not bother him with her presence anymore…

"Well, I guess I'll leave to you whatever you were planning on doing. I'll see you in class," said Hermione, trying to not to show too how dejected she felt. She reached for the doorknob and opened the door to leave.

"Wait," Scorpius called her back. He stood up slowly from his chair and sighed quietly. "Actually, I could use some help."

Hermione turned around. "Oh! Okay." If he was really willing to give her the chance to make it up to him, then she was going to take it. A small smile crept up on her face.

"So, what is it that you're doing down here?" she asked curiously. Scorpius pointed to a workstation behind him.

"I'm part of Professor Barnes' St. Mungo's Potions project. I'm helping her prepare ingredients."

Hermione nodded. "Ah, yes. I remember Nev– um, Professor Longbottom talking about it the other day in class. I didn't know you were in that program."

"Professor Barnes approached a couple of students and asked if they were interested. I was amongst them," Scorpius explained and sat down on the edge of a table.

Hermione nodded again. "Sounds interesting. So with which task can I assist you?"

* * *

Hermione tried hard not to make a face when she picked up the dead purse-web spider. Whilst she didn't share the same extent of aversion to spiders like Ron had, spiders were still far from her favourite animals. It certainly didn't help the case that this particular spider species was one of the ickier ones either.

Yet there she sat with a big pile of five dozen that were just waiting to have their spidey legs ripped off so they could be used as potions ingredients. Hermione suppressed a shudder at the tearing sound the limbs made as she pulled. _Bleugh! How disgusting!_

However, Hermione wasn't going to complain. She was sure that this was part of Scorpius' punishment for her. She would just have to bear it if she wanted to get in his good graces again.

* * *

Scorpius could tell that Hermione was genuinely sorry and sincere with her apology. Perhaps he was being a tad harsh with her by making her pluck gross insect limbs. After all, even he had avoided the task so far and had initially planned on leaving it for the two fourth years from a few days ago to do in detention. _Oh well._

She could actually consider herself lucky that it had only been the spiders she had to deal with, because he could have made it far worse: there were still those smelly puffer-fish that were waiting to have their eyes removed. And don't even get him started with what had to be done with the flabbergasted leeches… Hermione had definitely gotten the better end of the deal compared to what the little Krum and Zabini were going to face. Those two were going to suffer, no doubt.

* * *

"Done!" Hermione announced after she dropped the last insect limb into the jar. She was glad that she had somehow managed to finish her job and hoped that it would help to soften Scorpius up towards her and not make him throw another disgusting task her way.

Scorpius looked up from his work station. "I'll be there in a moment," he replied and quickly filled up the last ingredients in the potion kits. When he was done, Scorpius walked over to Hermione's table and examined her jar. A sly grin spread across his face when his gaze fell on Hermione.

"Good job! Thanks for your help, Hermione. I really appreciate it." Hermione snorted, but there was also a hint of a smile on her lips. "I bet you do! Because with my help, you were left with the much nicer task of grounding Graphorn horns!"

Scorpius didn't bother denying this. His grin only became wider.

"So, are we good again?" Hermione asked hopefully. Scorpius placed the jar back on the table and nodded. "Yeah, we're good."

Then suddenly, Scorpius' left hand found its way to her cheek, gently cupping and caressing it. Hermione couldn't exactly recall the moment he had moved to stand so close to her – but then, did it matter? All she knew was that _here it was again_, that funny (but nice) feeling she remembered from her tutoring lesson.

Scorpius continued to slowly run his fingers along her jaw, and Hermione's eyes fluttered close for a second before she, again, looked at him with big doe eyes. When Scorpius realized that she wasn't going to do anything to stop his ministrations (such as hitting him – a thing she seemed to love doing to the male members of his family), he stepped even closer and tilted her chin upwards before slowly beginning to bend down…

* * *

A/N: Hahahaha! _Yes_, I'm ending the chapter _right there_! It's a very nice place for a cliff-hanger, don't you all agree?

So, is this finally it? Is Scorpius finally catching his "fish"? Well, we'll see about that. Maybe he will, maybe he won't…

I also realize that Hermione actually has been down the kitchens sometime in the 4th book, but for this story let's just pretend she didn't, yeah?

Also: "Do you have the crazy?" is a quote from the film "The Signal (2007)".


	17. Chapter 17: Love bite?

Chapter17: Love... bite?

* * *

Hermione's heart beat loudly against her chest. This was it! Scorpius was going to kiss her and she was _so _going to let him! The swarm of crazy butterflies in her stomach must have felt just as excited, for they seemed to be doing some serious diving instead of fluttering around.

Their noses touched and Hermione held her breath before slowly turning her head to the side whilst Scorpius did the same. Her eyes drifted closed as she waited for his lips to finally meet hers.

However, instead of feeling the sweet touch of his lips, Hermione was struck with a blinding pain. Her eyes shot open and immediately began to water. _What the hell?_ _Had he really just… _Hermione clutched her nose. Yes, the throbbing pain from her nose proved that she indeed had just been head-butted like she suspected! 

"_Ow, ow, ow_! What did you do that for?" Hermione yelped as she stumbled backwards, her second hand now shielding her nose as well. She didn't want to take any chances should another attack follow. Scorpius looked both upset and horrified at what had just transpired.

"Something bit–," he began before his eyes grew wide and he yelled, "Your _cat_ bit me!" Hermione stared blankly at him. Just when she thought this boy couldn't get any stranger. Why was he doing this funny shake with his leg? And blaming her cat? _Really now_…

But then Hermione looked a little closer and she saw it; something orange and fluffy attached to his leg. It was her beloved Puffball who had sunken his teeth into Scorpius' ankle like a tenacious Doberman! Hermione winced, remembering how painful such encounters with her pet were from personal experience.

"Oh, my! PUFFBALL, LET GO!"

At the scolding of his mistress, Puffball quickly detached himself from the unlucky Slytherin and retreated to one of the high shelves close by. He watched both humans with a twitching tail and puffed fur.

Scorpius plopped down on a chair and groaned internally. _Great, just great_! Not only had he somehow managed to get attacked by Psycho Cat again, _no_, he had also given the girl he fancied a head-butt! Why did these things always happen to him? He had been _so close_!

"Okay, now we are definitely even," Hermione spoke up after longs moments of silence and gingerly touched her nose. Thankfully, it was starting to feel a little better now.

"Shit, I'm sorry about your nose, Hermione. Here, let me take a look at it," Scorpius apologized and stood up. However, Hermione stopped him, raising her hand.

"No offense, Scorpius, but I'd rather not have you stand so close to me after you head-butted me – unintentionally or not." On a pain scale, the head-butt would be classified alongside the searing pain that came with stepping on a piece of _Lego_.

Scorpius frowned, but did as told and stayed put. He watched her guiltily, albeit also being somewhat relieved about not having broken her nose. Just as he was about to suggest to her to cast a cooling charm to ease the pain, Hermione suddenly jumped forward and pointed at his feet accusingly.

"_Your_ _socks_!"

Scorpius furrowed his brow in confusion. "_What_?" Why was something so inane catching her attention? Hm… was she a closet sock or foot fetishist perhaps? A little odd, but Scorpius supposed that he could learn to live with that…

"They're _green_!" said Hermione as if that was supposed to explain everything.

"Yeah, so?" Who cared whether or not his socks were gre–oh fuck, was that _blood _on his ankle?

"Puffball hates green socks! I don't know why, but it would probably be better if you took them off," Hermione explained, trying to calm the cat that was now secured in her arms. Scorpius' eyes narrowed.

"Don't pet it!" he chastised, stopping the inspection of his ankle. "If you pet it, it'll think that it has done something right and that you approve of its actions. And that beast does not deserve any love right now. As far as I'm concerned, that thing should be locked up somewhere for the safety of the public!" Oh fuck, he _was_ bleeding.

Hermione, appalled by Scorpius' opinion, wasted no time defending her pet. "I don't approve of his behaviour either, but Puffball is still a kitten. He doesn't know any better and your yelling is definitely not helping either – in fact, it's _very stressful_ to him!

"However, I am sorry that he bit you. I don't know why he attacks people who wear green socks. I suspect some sort of trauma…"

Scorpius felt the irritation growing with each second that passed, but Hermione just kept on chattering and defending the orange menace. _Boohoo __– he couldn't care less about the darned cat!_

It was clearly psychotic and needed to be kept far, far away from people. And don't even get him started with her strange theory about green socks! _Pfft, green soc_–oh! Now he might have an explanation for that…

* * *

After bringing the maniac ball of fur home from his trip to Diagon Alley, Scorpius had taken Puffball back to his bedroom for convenience's sake. Whilst he wasn't much of a fan of the cat, locking it away in the bedroom seemed to be the most practical solution since he wouldn't have to spend ages looking for it later when it was time to give it away. Since he didn't know Hermione's address, he had to wait for Theo (whose mother was a member of the school committee and had access to students' records) to reply to his letter.

Initially, Scorpius had considered the idea of sending his owl to deliver the gift (which would have been the easiest way since one didn't need to know someone's address – magical owls somehow always knew where to fly to). However, he changed his mind when re-evaluating his pet's safety. The trip would have been far too dangerous for his owl (also, he didn't want to expose it to a crazy cat), which was why he asked his loyal house elf, who knew how to handle situations like this appropriately, to complete this task. But unlike owls, house elves needed concrete addresses.

So whilst waiting for Theo's answer, an idea popped into Scorpius' head: since the cat was intended as peace offering/Christmas present, it only made sense to "decorate" the cat and make it look "present-like". Hence Scorpius trying - big emphasis on _trying_ here - to tie a ribbon around the cat's neck.

The cat, however, had found Scorpius' idea very uncalled for and had fought him tooth and nail. In the end, Scorpius had felt so angry that he had grabbed the cat and dumped it in his clothes basket in the adjoining bathroom. It had been a sort of revenge and punishment for scratching his arms and hands badly instead of being a nice little kitten and letting him tie that darn red bow around its neck.

Anyhow, said clothes basket might have had a couple of unclean green socks in it when he had dumped the cat in there. It hadn't been his intention to leave it in there for hours, honestly, but when his grandparents had come over for a surprise visit, he had completely forgotten about it. He only remembered when returning to his room to use the loo and hearing the pitiful mews. Scorpius had then, of course, immediately freed Puffball and even let the kitten nap on his pillow on the bed and dutifully petted it.

However, this whole story was probably better for Hermione not to know. She would just end up believing him to be some sort of animal abuser – which he most certainly was not. After all, he was very, very fond of his owl and his owl always seemed happy and content to be his pet.

Shaking off his drifting thoughts, Scorpius focused his attention back on Hermione. "I don't understand why he goes berserk every time either. He attacked my father and me once, too. I tried to train him, but nothing seems to help. But then again, he's a cat and cats don't really let themselves be trained."

Since Scorpius didn't know how respond to that (and he definitely was not going to reveal his part in the cat's apparent trauma), he suggested calling it a day.

"Yes, that would probably be the best," Hermione immediately agreed, still resisting the strong urge to pet her (now thankfully calm) kitten, so Scorpius wouldn't start complaining again.

"Yeah, I'll just put these things back in the storage room, but you can leave now," Scorpius answered, glad that he had an excuse not to walk back with her because of the strange tension between them. Hermione nodded and made her way to the door.

"Um, I guess I'll see you around?"

Scorpius nodded.

"Yeah, see you around."

* * *

Hermione banged her head against the table. She and Scorpius were in this really odd place in their _friendship_ right now. They had, she supposed, implicitly established that they felt attracted to one another; however, before anything could happen between them, her cat had come to ruin it all!

As much as Hermione loved Puffball, she couldn't help but feel very annoyed with him. Of all times he could have come to look for her, he had to have chosen _that_ moment – spoiling her moment with Scorpius.

Why couldn't Puffball have found her, say – five minutes later? Although the bigger question was how Puffball had managed to find her in the dungeons in the first place. Hogwarts wasn't exactly what she would call small. Maybe Puffball was part Kneazle like Crookshanks? Everyone knew what awfully smart pet Crookshanks had been.

Anyhow, she and Scorpius were now tiptoeing around each other, not entirely sure how to act and not knowing whether to bring up their almost-kiss or not. The fact that they were suddenly acting so overly polite to one another wasn't helping the awkwardness either. There was no picking up where they had left off – not even some "accidental" hand-brushing. It was frustrating to say the least and her dream from the other night only served to amplify this frustration – not to mention made her feel like an utter and complete hypocrite!

_First you act all upset when you find out that a guy has a naughty dream about you and then you end up having a very explicit dream about that very boy yourself. Oh, the irony! _

Hermione caught her thoughts (and eyes) wandering off during class more than once. She prayed that Scorpius hadn't noticed her silly staring, because Rose for one certainly had and insisted on teasing her about it. Hermione had, of course, denied all accusations, but even she had to admit that her "No, no! I was just thinking about this… Arithmancy problem!" didn't sound too convincing. Hence prompting Rose to answer her with, "Oh, you've got it bad for him, dearie. We _all_ know you've got it _bad_."

_We all know you've got it bad?_ Now what exactly was that supposed to mean? Had she really been that obvious? Was there even something to be obvious about? Sure, she admitted (to herself) that she wasn't entirely uninterested – the dream surely had spoken volumes – but had she really been acting like a pathetic idiot, so apparently they "all" now "knew"? _Ugh, no!_

Then again, why should she care about what people thought? Hermione decided that she did not. _So there!_

* * *

Hannah plopped down lazily next to Hermione on the bed. She wondered about her friend's odd behaviour of the last few days. "Say Hermione, what's the deal with you and Scorpius?"

Hermione sighed quietly before trying to reply as nonchalantly as she could. "There's no deal with me and Malfoy."

Hannah propped herself up on her elbows and eyed her roommate curiously. "Oh, _Malfoy_ is it now? I thought you were on a first name basis with him?"

"Hannah, we are dealing with the typical behaviour of _denial _here. Don't you know that people who want to distance themselves from someone for whatever reason, do things like referring to these people by their last name or telling very unconvincing lies when they are caught staring? You know, like 'Oh, I wasn't staring – I was just trying to solve an Arithmancy problem.' Well, that's exactly what Hermione's doing," Rose explained, earning a glare from her curly-haired roommate.

"See? She's not even denying it!" This observation only encouraged Hannah to continue her inquisition.

"Did something happen between you two? Is there a reason why you are suddenly so … _mopey _again?"

Hermione scowled. _Yes_, there was indeed a reason why she was being so "mopey" again. Feeling the weight of all eyes drawn upon her, Hermione tried to distract herself by playing with the buttons of the pillowcase.

"He almost kissed me," she finally mumbled before hiding her face behind her pillow.

"_What_? _When_?" The questions immediately came.

"When I apologized to him a couple of days ago." The girls waited eagerly for Hermione to continue, but realized by the silence that followed that Hermione had already shared all the information she wanted to.

"Hey, you've got to give us a little more than that, Hermione. We want details!" Rose demanded, shaking Hermione lightly by the arm. Hermione removed the pillow from her face and began to chew on her bottom lip.

"Girls, I'm not good at … _girl talk_." she said apologetically, hoping they would let the matter go – however, the looks on her friends' faces told her that they wouldn't dream of it. They looked quite determined to squeeze the information out of her one way or another. Hermione sighed.

"Okay, okay. So after I apologized, Scorpius told me he could use a hand with the preparation of potions ingredients – you know, for the programme that our school has with St. Mungo's?" The girls nodded. "Yeah, so I volunteered to make amends with him. I dissected the purse-web spiders and–"

"Scorpius made you do that? Those spiders are so gross! We actually had that task reserved for students in detention. Do you remember those two little fourth years that beat each other? They were meant to do that under our supervision," Isabelle interrupted, but soon realised that her input was not appreciated at that moment. "Oh right, sorry. Please continue, Hermione."

"Yes, so when I was done, Scorpius came over to my work station and examined the jar. We joked around a bit and somehow ended up standing really close together. Then he suddenly did this." Hermione reached up to touch Hannah's face to show them what _he_ had done.

"And when he was about to kiss me, my cat showed up and _bit__ him_ _on the ankle_!" Hermione moaned and jerked her bed sheets over her head. Her roommates exchanged disbelieving glances.

"Oh, uh, now that's really…_unfortunate_," Isabelle said carefully, trying not to upset Hermione any further.

"I know!" Hermione agreed unhappily from under the sheets. Why couldn't luck be on her side this once?

* * *

Hermione was glad when she caught Scorpius alone the next morning. Much to her relief, the awkwardness between them had almost completely disappeared and they were interacting normally again. They walked down the steep hill that led to the greenhouses deep in conversation about their plans after graduation.

"To be honest, I don't really know. The last time we talked about this, I saw myself working in the Department of Law Enforcement, but now I'm not sure I still want that. My life has gone down a quite different path than it was 'supposed to', so things change. I don't necessarily want what I did a year or even some months ago.

"I actually thought about taking a year off and getting my A Levels – that's the Muggle equivalent to the N.E.W.T.s. My parents would be very happy if I did. They'd never voice it out loud, but I know that they don't think that the education we receive at Hogwarts is enough. So I might as well keep them happy whilst still pondering on what my career path will be.

"What about you? I remember you telling me something about the family business," Hermione asked as they entered the greenhouse together.

Scorpius shrugged. "Yeah, I'll most probably end up joining the family business – the Malfoy Apothecary. Although the idea of taking a year off after the N.E.W.T.s sounds like a pretty good one to me. Might as well have some fun and enjoy life before entering working life and getting all serious."

"Well, it's not like I'd be doing nothing during that year off. I'll be spending that year, perhaps even two years, studying so I'd pass the A-Levels."

Scorpius nodded. "I'll just try and work at Malfoy Apothecary and see if it's for me. It's not like I can't change my mind later on; but for now, it doesn't sound too bad. Although if I think about it again, you know: working with my father, having him be my boss…," Scorpius trailed off and grimaced. Hermione chucked. Now she could definitely relate to that sentiment. As much as she loved her parents, she'd rather not work for or with her parents if given the choice.

"Though it will end up with me being the boss of it all the moment my father decides to retire," Scorpius then continued and waggled his eyebrows, making Hermione roll her eyes and shove him lightly.

Scorpius gave her a small shove back. "Oh please, as if you wouldn't fancy the idea of being able to boss people around – to _be _the boss of people."

"All right, I admit that it's a nice prospective to look forward to in a career. The Department of Muggle Affairs has managed to catch my attention recently. I never considered working there before, but as of late it has become pretty interesting," Hermione admitted.

"I could never see myself working for the Ministry."

"It's one of the biggest employers of the British wizarding world. I think most people see their careers linked with the Ministry in some way or another."

"True."

"I think that especially now that the Ministry is becoming more transparent for us Muggle-borns to, you know, actually achieve something and now that we are appointed to important functions, it's becoming an even more attractive workplace."

Hermione was, of course, referring to the article (written by good old Dennis Creevey) she had read this morning. She had been delighted to see the Daily Prophet announcing that, for the first time ever, a Muggle-born had been promoted to head of a department. Hermione couldn't have been more proud of her former classmate (and member of S.P.E.W.) Justin Finch-Fletchley, who was now in charge of the Department of Muggle Affairs.

It had always seemed illogical to her that the Ministry had until then, always appointed Pure-bloods for said position. Having a Pure-blood in control of Muggle affairs had in her eyes, not exactly been a smart decision. Hermione was convinced that they could never really relate to or understand Muggle-born matters the way they needed to be. One would assume that the Ministry would at least have a Half-blood, but no.

Then again, many Half-bloods that Hermione knew had problems relating because their Muggle-born parent had more or less given up and 'forgotten' their Muggle roots in order to completely blend into wizarding society. It was a pity that far too many thought that they had to stop being 'Muggle' to truly belong.

"There are still plenty of things that could be done in that department. Maybe now with a Muggle-born as head, they'll find ways to better prepare young witches and wizards from non-magical backgrounds for the wizarding world. Like perhaps a crash course or meeting of sorts for the children and their parents. That way, the students would also have the chance to meet people who are like them and they'll also be able to make friends before coming to Hogwarts. All I could do after Professor McGonagall's visit was read a whole lot of books that I purchased on my first and very over-whelming visit to Diagon Alley to prepare myself."

"Seems like you actually made up your mind on what you want to do later, if you ask me," Scorpius replied. He had never given thought to what Muggle-borns or Half-bloods that were raised in Muggle fashion had to go through. Most of his close friends were either Pure-bloods or Half-bloods who were raised in magical families. But what Hermione told him made a lot sense.

"Yeah, right? But who knows how I'll feel about it in a year. Maybe by then I'll have found something that inspires me even more," said Hermione and dropped her book bag on the floor by her usual work station.

Unfortunately, the impact of her rather heavy bag banging against the table caused some of the equipment to start rolling off. As quickly as she could, Hermione jumped forward to catch it before it fell to the ground. Scorpius, acting on the same reflex, joined her and grabbed for the equipment at the same time. Hermione gulped at the sudden proximity between the two of them and at how his hands closed over hers. This was all very, very familiar…

Apparently Scorpius was having the same thoughts for he moved even closer – just like he had _that _day. Were they finally going to continue where they had left off?

Hermione bit her lower lip nervously, put the… err – whatever it was – back on the table and slowly reached for the hands that had held hers seconds ago again. She then gazed up at Scorpius' face and looked expectantly at him, waiting for him to make the next move. Intense grey-blue eyes stared back at her and she felt him pulling her against him slowly... _Ack!_

The spell, however, was broken when they heard the sound of their fellow students walking towards the greenhouses.

Hermione groaned. Not_ again_. Why were they always interrupted when they were in the middle of something? This was really getting old.

"Oh, screw this! Screw everyone else!" Hermione muttered under her breath as she came to a decision: she was going to have her kiss and she was going to have it now! It was time to take control and take the matter into her own hands, because this was apparently the only way to get things done around here!

So with an expression full of determination, Hermione grabbed Scorpius by his tie, yanked him down to her level and planted a kiss on his lips.

* * *

_What a_ _pleasant surprise_! Out of all things he had expected her to do, lunging and kissing the living daylights out of him had been one of the last things. Not that he was complaining, of course. This was nice_ – _this was_ extremely _nice!

Scorpius gave himself a mental pat on the shoulder before slowly snaking his left arm around Hermione's waist. With the other hand, he dislodged her death grip on his tie (which was quite uncomfortable for his neck), intertwined their hands and kissed her back before she could get the silly idea that he didn't like what she was doing. Scorpius grinned when he heard her sigh quietly and felt her lean into him.

Somewhere distant Scorpius thought he heard a cough, but chose to ignore it. Only when he heard the sound again, he opened his eyes to look. _Okay… awkward!_

"Ahem, Mister Malfoy and Miss Granger. As glad as I am that you two seem to have found … _happiness_ together, I would still very much like to ask you to take your seats, so we can begin with class, yes?" Neville asked with a twinkle in his eye as Hermione went stiff in Scorpius' arms.

"Of course. I'm very sorry, Professor Longbottom," Hermione said meekly, slowly breaking away from Scorpius whose face, very much like hers, was now tinted with a touch of rosy pink. Scorpius immediately followed her example and apologized, although he did not look very sorry at all. And, to be perfectly honest, neither did Hermione.

* * *

A/N: A Department of Muggle Affairs was never mentioned in the books, but I imagine that there must be some sort of branch in the Ministry that deals with Muggle matters.

This chapter was betaed by RichelleBrinkley!


	18. Chapter 18: Yes, No, Maybe

A/N: I apologize for not updating for months. First, I had this tenacious writer's block and then when I got over it, I sort of lost interest in this story. :( But never mind that now - the new chapter's here! Thanks for still reading! This story also has a banner (see my profile) now. All right, that's all I wanted to say. Over and out.

Many thanks to RichelleBrinkley for beta-ing!

* * *

Chapter 18: Yes, No, Maybe

* * *

Scorpius pulled Hermione back after Neville dismissed the class. This action didn't go unnoticed by his friends; Theo gave him a two-thumbs-up (to which Scorpius responded discreetly with his own thumbs-up) before walking off to join the others. Hermione and Scorpius waited until they were alone before either of them spoke.

"So," Hermione began, looking at him shyly, the blush from earlier slowly finding its way back into her cheeks.

"So," Scorpius repeated, taking her hands in his and playing with her fingers. This only made Hermione feel even giddier than she already was.

"Who would have thought?" Scorpius remarked, a small smile tugging at his lips.

"Yeah," Hermione echoed with a smile of her own. "So… where do we go from here?"

They silently pondered the question. Were they going to be exclusive now? Did she want it? Well, _of course_ she did! However, Hermione waited for Scorpius to answer first.

Her heart jumped when she saw a spark flash in Scorpius' eyes, a wide grin appearing on his face. Apparently Scorpius had found an answer to their question.

"I want you to ask me out on a date." A confused and very unladylike "huh" was the only thing Hermione managed to say. Scorpius wanted her to _what_? She opened her mouth in an attempt to say something – however, she failed each try and only resulted in looking like a gaping fish.

_But she was the girl here!_ _Not Scorpius!_ Wasn't there still this traditional unspoken rule for the man to ask the woman? Perhaps she hadn't gotten that updated memo? An amused chuckle broke her musings.

"Yes, it's more conventional that way." Hermione felt the blood rush to her cheeks as she realized she must have voiced her thoughts out loud.

"Still," Scorpius continued, "I'd very much like to have you ask me. Are you up for that challenge, Miss Granger?" Hermione still looked lost.

"You want me to ask you out?" she asked slowly, making sure she had understood him correctly. A mischievous smile appeared on Scorpius' lips as he looked down and pretended to examine his nails.

"Yes that would be correct: you ask me out on a date. _Properly_. A man has to feel special from time to time. I don't understand why women always get to be the special one in this."

"Because we_ are _special!"Hermione thought, but knew there was no point in explaining that to him.

So he wanted to be the one asked out? _No problem._ If he wanted that, then she would just do so! It sort of put her in an awkward spot, but she was a woman with a healthy dose of confidence. Besides, what was there so weird about asking a guy out? They were living in modern times – times of equality for both men and women!

Time to stop insisting on these silly unspoken rules that men always had to pay for dinner on dates or hold open doors or pull out chairs (although admittedly, she had always swooned when Viktor had done that). Hermione supposed that it was only fair to switch the roles every now and then. There was absolutely no reason to feel awkward. She was_ totally fine_ with his request. She took a deep breath.

"Say Scorpius, you know how there's this Hogsmeade trip coming up in five days?" _Okay, this wasn't a bad start._ Scorpius nodded, giving her his undivided attention as he pretended not to know where this was going.

"I was wondering–," Hermione swallowed. _Oh hell, this was incredibly awkward!_

"Yes?" _Oh, that smirk._ How badly she wanted to smack it off his face! However, Hermione refrained.

She continued, "I was wondering if you already have plans on going with someone?"

"I usually go with my friends. Why do you want to know?" Scorpius inquired innocently, clasping his hands behind his back and bouncing back and forth on his heels. He was basking in her awkwardness. He was _really_ enjoying this!

"Well, I was hoping we could go together."

"Oh, you mean you want to join my friends and me? Sure, I'm all for it. I don't think my friends will mind either," Scorpius answered casually, still pretending not to understand what she was getting at.

Hermione gritted her teeth, but stopped immediately when realized what she was doing. _Her poor teeth!_ But this boy was so infuriating sometimes! Well, he would pay for that later, Hermione decided.

"No. I meant just _you and me_. As in a _date_," she clarified as if her question hadn't been obvious enough. Scorpius looked 'surprised'.

"You're asking me out on a date?"

"Yes."

"To Hogsmeade?"

"Yes," Hermione affirmed, nodding her head several times, her curls bouncing off her shoulders.

"I see," Scorpius replied, however, refrained from commenting any further. Instead, he chose to look 'thoughtfully' at her. After what seemed like an eternity to Hermione, Scorpius oh-so-generously bestowed her with an answer.

"Hmm," he began with a mock pensive expression and a posture that reminded Hermione very much of Rodin's _The Thinker_. But unlike when seeing the statue, with Scorpius Hermione just felt the strong urge to kick someone's arse – someone's Slytherin-arse to be exact.

"…I think I'll need some time to think about your invitation, Hermione. I will get back to you with an answer tomorrow."

"Oka–," Hermione began, but stopped mid-word. _Wait, wait, wait! Tomorrow?_ "What?"

Scorpius looked at her as if she were a small child and repeated slowly, "I said, I will get back–"

"I heard what you said, but I think that you're enjoying this way too much! I did as you asked and now you're telling me that I'm getting my answer _tomorrow_?"

Scorpius cocked his head to the side. "Patience, patience, O' Short One. Good things come to those who wait! There are some things I need to consider first, you know?" he explained before tapping her nose with his forefinger once and strolling off, leaving a dumbfounded Hermione behind.

* * *

Later on that very same day, Harry, Ron and Neville met up for their regular guys' night out at the local. After their first round of drinks Neville remembered the story he wanted to tell his former roommates. He was sure that Harry and Ron would find his discovery just as interesting as he did.

"So I made an interesting discovery today. Not sure if you two have heard about it yet, but most probably not."

Harry looked up from the peanut bowl across the table. "What is it, Neville?"

"Well, it's something about Hermione..."

"Something about Hermione?" Ron repeated.

Neville nodded, a devilish smirk appearing on his face. Harry and Ron raised their brows at this behaviour, waiting for him to continue. Neville, however, took his sweet time and reached for a handful of snacks.

"It seems like she made quite a few new friends at Hogwarts. She's considerably more social than she was when in school with us. She's made one good friend in particular…"

"That's nice good to hear. I know Hermione was worried about finding new friends and fitting in. Rose told me that they've become good friends and that the other Gryffindor girls have taken a liking to Hermione as well," Ron chimed in as he reached for the bowl of peanuts, only to have Harry move it further away, not wanting to share. Ron shot him a dirty look.

"Oh yes, they certainly are, but I don't mean that type of friend! I meant a very special _male_ friend," Neville revealed, pausing to let his words sink in and take effect.

Harry and Ron couldn't mask their surprise. Hermione had a special guy friend? As in boyfriend? Well, she certainly didn't have problems fitting in if she managed to get herself a boyfriend!

Pleased with his friends' reaction to his news, Neville continued, "Today when I got to the greenhouse to teach the 7th years, I was quite surprised to find her lip-locked with one of her classmates – quite enthusiastically, I might add."

Harry and Ron chuckled. "Good for her!"

"Wait, it gets even better! _A_ _lot better_," Neville announced, raising his forefinger in teacher mode and preparing them for his next revelation. "Hermione was snogging none other than Draco_ Malfoy's beloved son_!"

* * *

Harry shook his head at Ron who couldn't seem to stop laughing. Sure, what Neville had told them about Hermione and Malfoy's son was funny – it had made him laugh, too – but it hadn't been _that _funny_. _Ron's reaction was a bit over-the-top.

Ron, however, begged to differ. He couldn't understand why Harry was so reserved. _Man, this was just too good!_ Ron actually couldn't believe that what he had wished for – Draco Malfoy's doom (a.k.a. Hermione in a relationship with his son) – had become reality. It was like Christmas coming early! _Harry could be such a party pooper sometimes!_

So Ron tried again, "Harry! Please tell me you can see the great irony here: _Malfoy's son _seeing_ our Hermione_. Harry, this is… this is _karma_. This is the cosmos' way of justice, making Malfoy pay for being an über twit! Neville, you totally see the irony in this situation, don't you?"

Neville chortled into his mug of ale. "Not going to lie – I was extremely amused when I saw them together." Ron, glad that at least one of his friends agreed with him, threw his arm around Neville's shoulder.

"That's my man! See Harry, Neville understands the point I'm making." Neville saluted Ron.

"I think being an Auror doesn't do Harry good any in the humour department," Ron told Neville in a mock whisper. "Always so serious… You know, Neville, I did offer Harry to become my business partner, but he flat-out declined. Didn't even take a day or two to consider my offer!"

"Ron this has nothing to–," Harry objected, but was cut off by Ron.

"Or maybe it's because of his wife. Lavender has him on a pretty tight leash. That must take its toll on a man," Ron continued, sharing a wide grin with Neville. Although Harry was considered _the_ candidate for next Head Auror, at home it definitely wasn't him who wore the trousers – or as Lavender would so charmingly put it: "You wear the trousers – but I choose them for you!" (This, of course, with the unconditionally loyal support of yours truly Kreacher.)

"Would you two please stop badmouthing my marriage? Lavender and I have a perfectly fine relationship." He was, however, ignored as Neville and Ron continued their analysis.

"Do you remember that New Year's Eve when Lavender got upset with him about – what was is it again? Ah yes, about him 'accidentally' setting that portrait on fire that her parents had given them? I swear I almost died of laughter because of all the names she called him!"

"Me too! The best ones were the boy with the small prick; the boy who must never eat beans because his gas is deadly; the boy who–"

"Okay, hold it! I thought we all agreed to never bring up that night again. Most of the things – well, actually _all_ of the things Lavender called me and accused me of – weren't true! Pregnant women tend to exaggerate and say things they don't mean. I suppose she was justifiably upset with me, but she went literally below the belt. And you guys have to admit that that portrait was hideous! I couldn't leave it hanging in my study!" _Seriously, who hangs a giant portrait of their in-laws in their study?_

* * *

Hermione was rummaging through her bag for an ink bottle when she felt a tap on her shoulder.

"For you," the Hufflepuff sitting next to her explained, holding out a neatly folded piece of paper with her name on it to her.

"It's from him," her classmate continued, nodding at Scorpius who was copying the Potions instructions from the board dutifully.

"Thank you, Stebbins." Hermione replied before unfolding the paper carefully under her desk in order not to attract the attention of their professor.

_Dear Hermione,_

_After careful consideration, I have decided to take you up on your invitation to Hogsmeade. I must, however, politely ask you to refrain from any violent act towards my person (meaning no smacking or hitting allowed)._

_I will meet you at 11:00 in front of the staircase by the Great Hall on Saturday._

_Scorpius_

Hermione bit the inside of her checks to keep herself from grinning. What a _typical_ Scorpius Malfoy response!

* * *

Saturday – her_ date_ – arrived much faster than Hermione dared hoped for. For the end of February, it was a surprisingly sunny day and perfect for an outing.

"Any place in particular you want to visit?" Scorpius asked as they strolled down Hogsmeade's main street. Hermione shook her head.

"No, not really… Well, actually there's a place I'd rather_ not_ go to."

"Which is?"

"Madam Puddifoot's Tea Shop."

Scorpius looked surprised. "Really? I thought girls liked that place for dates."

"Oh, it's not that I think the shop is horrible or anything, I just prefer other places. Places less…corny." That was putting it nicely. Madam Puddifoot's always reminded Hermione of Professor Trelawney's classroom. The look, the smell – yes, especially the_ smell_. That woman really needed to lay off those perfumes. Perhaps she already had, but there was no way Hermione could tell since she had dropped Divination class that fine afternoon in third year.

"True. I guess we could head to the Three Broomsticks. But there is also this newer place further down the street that opened last month. I've never been there, but I heard it's nice." Nice and, _ahem_, less crowded and more intimate.

"Sounds good, let's head there then."

"Um, would you mind if I get something for Hugo first? Before I forget?"

"Hugo?"

"Yes, Hugo. My owl," Scorpius explained, kicking a pebble on the street as they continued walking. Unfortunately that very pebble stone hit a younger Hogwarts student in front of them in the back of the neck and the boy was not amused. When the boy turned around to glare at his offender, Scorpius quickly pointed at Hermione who gasped in outrage at being accused falsely.

"Scorpius!" she screeched before quickly turning to the boy. "I'm very sorry. My friend here is a complete idiot sometimes. He didn't mean to hit you."

The boy considered her for a moment and his expression softened until he eventually nodded in acceptance of her apology (however, not without mumbling something about 'harassment' under his breath as he walked off to Honeydukes). Hermione on the other hand still frowned at Scorpius.

"I can't believe you placed the blame one me!"

Scorpius laughed gleefully. "Yes and it was so funny! Did you see how offended he was by you? That glare," Scorpius replied before mimicking the boy's expression.

"You mean offended by _you_," Hermione corrected him sternly. Scorpius shrugged and shoved his hands into his pockets. Hermione bit her tongue to keep herself from scolding him any further. This was not how a Head Boy was supposed to behave, but they were on a date and she wanted to have a nice time. Discussing his improper behaviour wasn't exactly date talk material. Hermione decided to return to their last topic.

"So you named your owl Hugo? That's an… um, _interesting_ name for an owl." Scorpius turned his head sideways to look at her.

"You named your cat _Crookshanks_," he deadpanned.

"Touché. But to be fair, my cat had somewhat crooked legs. Hugo is actually very a nice name."

"Hence me naming my owl Hugo."

Hermione nodded. "What kind is he?"

"A Tawny Owl – and Hugo is actually a she. I didn't know she was female until a few years after I got her. It's not so obvious with birds whether they are male or female just by looking at them. Well, unless you _really look_, if you know what I mean. But who does that?" said Scorpius, miming scooping up an owl and examining it.

Hermione spluttered as Scorpius continued, "My aunt actually told me Hugo was female, because female Tawny Owls are apparently much bigger than the male ones. But since I liked the name Hugo and my owl responded to it, we kept the name," Scorpius explained as they entered the pet shop.

* * *

Hermione carefully wiped her mouth with the napkin again to make sure she had no sauce smeared on the corners of her mouth. After all, there was nothing attractive about someone who didn't know how to eat properly. And who wouldn't want to make a good impression on a date? She had even squeezed herself into those pretty skinny jeans (not sure how she felt about that fashion revival yet) that her mother bought her.

Thankfully, she had learnt that trick where you had to lay on your bed in order to pull on trousers that were a tad too tight. Hermione was forever grateful to Parvati for letting her on that secret, but also made a mental note to tell her mother to buy jeans a size bigger next time.

"I'm no expert, but I do have a basic understanding. Well, as basic as you can expect from double Muggle Studies once a week for almost four years."

"Oh, I didn't know you took Muggle Studies. Although I guess that explains your absence in History of Magic, which we should normally be having together and why you are with the other History group."

"It's obligatory for all students from Pure-blood families from third year on. Sometimes also Half-bloods, depending on how they were brought up. Whether they also spend time in the Muggle world, etcetera. And you've noticed that I was missing? Didn't know you kept tabs on me," Scorpius teased. Hermione chose to ignore his smug expression.

"Hmm, that regulation is new. Muggle Studies always used to be an optional class. I used to take it for the fun of it; to see the wizard's perspective of the Muggle world. Do you like Muggle Studies?"

Scorpius shrugged. "The lessons can be interesting, but we've been doing recent British Muggle history since the end of last year, which I – no offense – don't find particularly interesting."

"None taken."

"It definitely doesn't hurt to know a little bit about it. Before we did that, we covered topics such as the Muggle media, the different governmental structures, literature... amongst other things. Those topics were more to my liking. I've always found history a bit of dry subject."

Hermione nodded. She sometimes felt that way about Professor Binn's class as well. As much of an expert as he was, his lessons still tended to be so dull that even her great interest in history couldn't save her from boredom.

And as awkward as Hermione had felt about asking Scorpius out at first, she was very glad that she had.

* * *

"I had a good time today," Hermione admitted to Scorpius who was walking beside her, accompanying her back to the Gryffindor Tower. Scorpius wholeheartedly agreed and decided that a kiss was best answer to her admission. However, when he leaned down to kiss her, he was stopped by two hands pressed to his shoulders. He peered at the offending hands briefly before frowning at Hermione.

"I never kiss on the first date… and the first few follow-up dates," Hermione explained, taking a step backwards and clasping her hands behind her back, mimicking Scorpius' posture from five days ago. The whole no-kissing claim was, of course, a complete lie. Viktor and she had very, very, _very_ well kissed on their first date – the Yule Ball. (And even much more so on their next rendezvous, but Scorpius didn't need to know that.)

"Is that so?" Scorpius immediately pressed on, not quite believing her.

"Yes," Hermione insisted, keeping her face neutral. Scorpius sighed.

"Well, that's just too bad."

"I'm afraid so," Hermione replied, looking 'apologetic' whilst Scorpius looked thoughtful as they started walking again.

"You know what?" Scorpius asked seconds later to which Hermione responded by shaking her head.

"I don't think this whole dating thing is working," Scorpius confessed, deflating Hermione's good mood immediately. She didn't know what to say even though a thousand thoughts shot through her head at that moment.

He didn't think them dating was working? Had he not enjoyed their time together today? Because to her it had seemed that he had. But of course, enjoying time together didn't necessarily mean that he had to be interested in her romantically.

"Oh," was all she managed as answer whilst trying her best not to look too crestfallen. She wasn't sure she wanted to be part of this conversation any longer. It was a good thing they already were at the entrance of her common room.

"Yes, this whole no kissing on first dates is a stupid rule. Apart from that, I also think that we should skip the whole courting phase altogether. It's not really working for me…"

A feeling of relief washed over Hermione. So Scorpius wasn't rejecting her after all! Hermione, however, still decided to play it cool and keep her face neutral.

"Courting phases are there to help you getting to know the other person better; but since we kind of know each other pretty well already, I think it's safe to say that we don't need it." This time Hermione couldn't fight that tiny smile that found its way to her lips.

"So what do you say?"

"What do I say to what?" Hermione asked innocently.

"Well, you know, to what I've just told you," Scorpius urged her for an answer.

"Ask me. _Properly_," Hermione demanded, giving him an expectant look. Scorpius stared disbelievingly at her.

"You're not really going to play that card on me now, are you?"

"I am," Hermione simply mouthed at him and tilted her head to the side a little. However instead of asking her like she had demanded, Scorpius pulled out a small piece of parchment to write something on it.

"What are you doing, Scorpius? Can't you do that later? We're right in the middle of something."

"Patience, O' Short One. Good things come to tho–"

"To those who wait. Yes, I believe you've told me that one before… I really hope that your 'O Short One' is not going to become your nickname for me. I do like the name my parents chose for me very much."

Scorpius looked up shortly from his parchment to grin at her before resuming whatever he was doing before. This only caused Hermione to grow more irritated, but before she could voice her opinion on that matter, Scorpius was already finished and handed her the parchment as well as his quill.

_To my dearest Hermione,_

_Since your attraction to me is very obvious and since I think I might like you a little bit too (flaws and all), I hereby want to ask you the following:_

_Will you be my girlfriend? (Please mark your answer with a cross.)_

_[ ] Yes [ ] No [ ] Maybe_

_P.S.: You may use the bottom space of this letter to leave me an additional message to your answer. This is optional, but not obligatory, of course._

_Scorpius_

Bubbly laughter escaped Hermione's lips and her eyes met Scorpius'. "You wrote me a 'Will you be my girlfriend: yes, no, maybe'-letter?"

"Seemed appropriate since you so childishly insisted that I ask you. You know, _properly_," Scorpius explained, making air quotes when saying 'properly'.

"Please! As if your demand had been any more mature! Well, this works too. I'll take what I can get." She focused back on the letter in her hand and marked her answer.

_[x] Yes [ ] No [ ] Maybe_

_My, my, aren't we overconfident? But never mind that. I think I'll give my favourite ferret of the Malfoy family a chance anyway._

_Hermione_

_P.S.: 163 cm is a perfectly fine height. You're just too tall._

Scorpius snorted. "Ferret? You're allowed to nickname me 'ferret', but won't allow me the same courtesy when it comes to nicknames?" Hermione smiled and mouthed a 'no' at him. Scorpius nodded in acceptance before pocketing the letter and trapping Hermione between his arms, leaning his forehead against hers.

"Now that we've got the date issue covered, I think it's time to move on to more interesting things, don't you agree?"

"I do." Hermione leaned in to give him a quick peck on the lips – only to have the peck turn into a full-fledged snogging session. Not that she was complaining.

"Maybe you shouldn't go to your common room just yet," Scorpius murmured in-between their kisses.

"Yes, maybe I shouldn't," Hermione whispered back, winding her fingers in his hair and brushing her lips over his.

* * *

"Wait," Hermione called after Scorpius as he turned to leave. "Let me fix that hair of yours first. I don't think I can let you walk around the castle looking like that."

Scorpius raised his eyebrows, but decided to comply. He strode over to Hermione and moved his head down so his _girlfriend_ could 'fix' the hair.

"Ow!"

"Sorry about that. They were a bit tangled," Hermione apologized as she tried to flatten the hair that was sticking up in all directions. Once in a while she would let out a chuckle before continuing the task at hand.

"Well, you didn't have to mess them all up, did you? I'll have you know that my hair is usually off-limits," Scorpius complained, but patiently let her continue.

"I do hope you can make an exception for me," Hermione replied, finishing up the last touches. "All right, you're good to go."

"Thanks."

Hermione smiled and gave him one last kiss before waking up the Fat Lady and whispering the password to her.


	19. Chapter 19: Driven Snow

A/N: Thanks to everyone who took time to review the last few chapters and thanks especially to those reviewers who have continuously done so. It's always nice to see your names pop up again and know what you think.

* * *

Chapter 19: Driven Snow

* * *

"I'll have a turkey sandwich," Scorpius said sleepily, his head propped up on both hands. Hermione stopped untying the newspaper from the owl's leg and looked at Scorpius in confusion.

"I beg you pardon?"

"A turkey sandwich - I want you to make me one." Scorpius clarified and nodded at the plates of food in front of them.

"Make one yourself. You have two perfectly working hands." Hermione brushed him off and went back to her newspaper.

"Well spotted my observant Gryffindor. But since I had to wake up at 8 o'clock today - a _Sunday_ - to have breakfast with you, I'm afraid I have to insist on you preparing me food," Scorpius countered to be told, he just wanted to go back to his dorm and his soft and warm bed. Why had made him agree to this again?

Oh right:He had agreed because of the big doe eyes she had made at him last night, when hinting at how much she would like to have company at breakfast and how she would often eat alone since her girlfriends always tended to sleep in on weekends.

Scorpius cursed himself. He hoped that she didn't expect him to do this on a regular basis.

"Someone really isn't a morning person on weekends," Hermione muttered as she grabbed the jar of honey for her tea and two strips of bacon for the owl. Feeling his expectant gaze on her, Hermione decided to humour Scorpius.

"All right, I'll make you a sandwich. Hand me the turkey plate, will you?" she asked and pointed at said plate, but Scorpius only moved so much that he could look at her pointedly. Other than that, he remained motionless.

"You know, the idea of having my girlfriend fixing me a sandwich is that I don't have to lift a finger," he explained before he yawned without even bothering to cover his mouth whilst doing so. It was far too early in the morning for such courtesy, he decided.

"You have five seconds," Hermione told him warningly.

Scorpius scowled at the ultimatum, but decided to oblige and slowly pushed the plate her way. He supposed that in a way he was lucky that she had only insisted on eating breakfast together and not on something horrible like taking a morning walk or worse, a morning run together. He did not function very well in the morning.

"Thank you, Scorpius," Hermione told him with a smile that was much too bright and sweet to be sincere, which only prompted Scorpius to grumble something that sounded suspiciously like 'sarcasm not being appreciated in the morning' and 'bad service' to Hermione's ears. She considered telling him off for a second, before she thought better of it. After all she wanted him to join her next Saturday, well actually continuously join her on weekends, so it probably wouldn't do any good to chide him now.

She handed him the sandwich as soon as she was done. "Here you go."

Scorpius nodded thanks and examined the sandwich with approval. "Looks tasty."

"I sure hope so. Now eat. Or are you waiting for me to feed you?"

Scorpius' eyes lit up at her question. "You would?"

Hermione's first response to this was to blink a couple of times and to then answer him with a dry 'no'.

That answer seemed to disappoint Scorpius greatly as he shot her a dirty look for making him such a nice offer, only to retract it later (or well, more for making an offer without actually meaning it). Deciding that it was much too early to start quarrelling, Scorpius decided to change the subject and went to ask her about the upcoming holidays.

"What are you doing in the Easter holidays?"

Hermione shrugged. "I don't know what my parents have planned, but I vaguely remember my father talking about the Isle of Man. Why?"

"My Birthday is in on the 9th of April," Scorpius explained and that was also when Hermione realized that after all this time, she hadn't known when Scorpius' birthday was. She felt a little stupid for that now.

"Oh."

"Yes, and I'm having a party at my parents' cottage. I also want you to be there, but I know about your agreement with your parents about spending the holidays with them."

"I'll talk to my parents about it. I'm sure they won't mind. I doubt that they expect me stay with them the whole time and to not meet up with my friends sometimes. They insisted on that agreement because they didn't want me to be away half or more of holidays, like I sometimes chose to when I was younger. This should be no problem, however. So, eighteen?"

Scorpius nodded and began to tell her about his plans for the day.

* * *

Over the next half hour, more students found their way into the Great Hall for breakfast. Scorpius was surprised at the number (a good forty) as he'd never thought that that many people were awake at this hour. A few seats down from him and Hermione, a group of boys who didn't look like they could be older than thirteen, were excitedly chatting over a box that looked suspiciously like a Dream Shell.

Scorpius noticed with glee that he wasn't the only person whose attention was caught by the lads.

* * *

Hermione almost choked when she realized what one of the boys was holding in his palms. Checking carefully if her companion had seen, Hermione discreetly glanced to her left, where she found him observing the small group as well. A small smirk had found its way to his lips and turned into a full-fledged Cheshire grin, when his eyes moved to look at her.

Hermione knew exactly where his thoughts must have drifted off to and nudged him (not too hard, but still hard enough) with her elbow in the side. "Stop making that face at me."

"What face?" he asked innocently, his grin growing even wider if that was even possible.

"That face, where you're grin at me like the Grinch after he has stolen all the Christmas presents in town," Hermione explained.

Scorpius, who didn't know what or who the Grinch was, asked her to elaborate.

"Never mind the comparison, just stop grinning at me like _that_," Hermione told him and went back to eating her breakfast and reading the newspaper.

"Why ever should I not? I'm in a good mood. Don't you want me to be happy?" Scorpius asked accusingly, but it was obvious that he didn't mean it.

Hermione sighed. "Of course I want you to be happy." It was just that this grin on his face was not a _happy_ grin – no, that one definitely qualified as a _naughty_ grin and they both knew that.

"I was merely thinking about that great investment I made when I bought one of those. Worth every galleon I spent," he told her with a faraway expression before he fixed her with _that smirk_ again. He was obviously not planning on changing the subject like Hermione was hoping to.

Her face was starting to burn as she tried to think of a plan to discourage his cheeky behaviour. The first thing that came to her mind was the creation of some space between them, hence prompting Hermione slide away from his person slightly. However she should have expected Scorpius to ruin her plan as he immediately followed suit and scooted as close to her as he could.

Hermione, of course, wasn't having any of that and immediately pushed him out of her personal space again. "You know, if you move any closer, you'll be sitting on my lap. And I'm trying to enjoy breakfast here."

Scorpius laughed on the inside. He was making her feel really awkward, wasn't he? Good. He was rather fond her awkward, squirming self.

In response of her chiding, Scorpius sighed dramatically and put a hand over his heart. "Ouch. Now if that wasn't an outright rejection. Poor me. It's a good thing that I have my precious dream storing device here with me to keep me comforted at night."

Hermione whipped her head in his direction as soon as he uttered that last sentence.

"You have brought it with you?" she squeaked, the scone she was eating dropping into her tea with a splashy 'plop'.

"Well, not here to the Great Hall for breakfast, but to Hogwarts, yes," Scorpius answered lazily, fishing the scone out of her cup and then handing her a new one.

"Why did you bring it? Someone might see!" Hermione continued, her voice now having dropped to a low whisper. She really hoped that no one but him had seen the content of the Dream Shell. Hermione didn't think she could handle that – or at least not very well.

"I wasn't exactly going around showing it to people. After all, my dream is kind of private – not that you seemed to care when you invaded my privacy," Scorpius answered while shooting a stern look her way.

"I told you before that didn't know! I thought I was looking at my brother's Dream Shell. Besides, I put it away before your dream got… really private."

Before it got 'really private'? Man, this girl amused him so much! She was always so confident and poised, but now he had her squirming and it was absolutely terrific!

This was why he decided to tease her even more.

"Let me get this straight: You haven't actually seen the whole dream?"

"No, only the beginning," Hermione admitted with flaming red cheeks.

"So you're saying that you've given me such a hard time when you 'caught me', even though you hadn't seen the whole thing and thus not having any real proof?" Scorpius asked and acted offended.

"It didn't take a genius to know where your dream was heading," Hermione snapped back defensively and took a big gulp of her tea that now tasted awful after having that scone falling into it.

"Well, that's too bad. You missed out on all the good stuff. And trust me when I say this, there was a lot of_ good stuff_."

"I think I'll survive that setback," Hermione said dryly.

"You know, I could lend it to you," Scorpius told her suggestively.

"Thanks, but no thanks," she declined politely before adding, "Now can we please talk about something else?"

Although Scorpius was tempted to say 'no', he eventually nodded and let her be for the moment. But just because he decided to lay off her about this now, didn't mean that he wouldn't sent her an owl with a little present later (a present which she would have to return obviously as he had grown rather attached to it).

Yes, that sounded like a plan.

* * *

Even though spring was said to be not too far away, it was still more than a little chilly outside (and in most parts of the castle as well), but that was March in this part of Scotland to you. Not even three days ago there had even been light snow!

Nevertheless it was still nice to be outside, which was why Theo and Hermione had decided to take a stroll and catch fresh air. They had been in a deep discussion over a character in a book they both read until Theo accidentally knocked into someone. He apologized profusely to the girl as he quickly helped her up.

When the girl was gone Theo made a comment that threw Hermione off quite a bit.

"His ex-girlfriend," Hermione repeated, her eyes suddenly glued to the girl like gum to a shoe as said girl strode away to join her friends, who were waiting for her by the Black Lake. Hermione knew she shouldn't have been surprised as she should've expected Scorpius to have dated someone before her, but still.

So, that was his ex-girlfriend, huh? His _very pretty_ and, from what Hermione could tell, _very likable_ ex-girlfriend. It actually wasn't much of a surprise to Hermione that Scorpius had felt drawn to Emily. As a guy, Hermione probably would have liked her too, but the thing was that Hermione wasn't a guy, so…

"Hey, don't worry; he hasn't been interested in Emily in a long time. That was ages ago," Theo told Hermione in a reassuring manner and put a hand to her shoulder. That and his comment brought Hermione out of her pensive state.

"Oh, I wasn't worrying. _I'm not worried_," Hermione quickly lied, but not quite convincing her friend. She had often been told what a bad liar she apparently was. Ron, especially, loved telling her so. This was the reason why she usually tended to go with the tactic of withholding information rather than lying. Hermione found omission much easier than lying.

"It's okay, you know? I can tell you a little bit of his dating history - if you want," Theo offered as he observed his Gryffindor friend, who was pretending to be disinterested in the current topic, carefully.

"Oh, I don't want to know," Hermione lied again, despite itching for details. Really, how could she not want to know about something like this?

When she saw the knowing look on Theo's face, Hermione sighed in defeat. There was really no point in denying since he was seeing right through her. "Okay, tell me."

"Aha! I knew it!" Theo immediately shouted and pointed a finger accusingly at her for lying. "You are just oozing with jealousy!"

"I'm not oozing with jealousy!" Hermione replied indignantly and folded the accusing finger back to his palms. "I'm merely curious. Besides,_ you_ were the one who decided to approach this subject."

Theo coughed sheepishly. He supposed he did somewhat like to gossip, but of course not the tittle-tattle-gossipy way women did. He saw it more as a way of sharing and trading valuable information.

"Right. So Scorpius and Emily," Theo began as he started to walk again. "They actually weren't together for long. Three months and a half if I recall correctly. It was when we were in 4th year. Their relationship was fairly innocent, not much more than a little handholding and kissing. They were fourteen after all. So no worries about indecent activities there," Theo told the curious Gryffindor with a devilish grin.

"Then there was Leanne whom he was seeing last summer. Now there might have been a little more going on there, but in the end, I reckon their relationship was also of the harmless nature."

Hermione, however, didn't quite believe that. "How do you know? Did he tell you that?"

"Nah, he didn't. Scorpius left the answer to that question hanging in the air when we asked him. But trust me, I can tell."

Hermione was still far from convinced by that argument. Leanne was even prettier than the already pretty Emily. She remembered hearing a group of boys from their year discussing what a 'smasher' Leanne was just the other day when walking to the Great Hall.

"So maybe he just doesn't kiss and tell," Hermione countered, at which Theo only shook his head.

"Trust me on this one. I just know."

"But how?" immediately Hermione probed, causing Theo release an irritated sigh.

"Honestly, why can't you just believe me?"

"Have you _seen_ her?"

Theo gave Hermione an amused look. "That I have. She _is_ rather easy on the eyes, you know?"

That comment only perturbed Hermione more and definitely didn't help her feel any better. Why didn't men understand that they needed to lie sometimes to make their friends feel better? Harry and Ron never really got that one either, but she was lucky that Theo finally had some compassion for her.

"I know because she told me, all right?"

"Leanne _told_ you?"

"Yes," Theo confirmed.

Hermione arched an eyebrow at him. He would have to give her more than just that, if he wanted to make her believe him.

"She could've been lying. I noticed that she's a pretty good liar. Remember when Leanne told Professor Malcolm that story about her homework? I mean, I would've believed her if I hadn't known better. Perhaps she just doesn't kiss and tell either," Hermione argued back.

Theo shook his head at her theory. "She wasn't lying. I _know_ she wasn't lying about it."

"You _know_?"

"I _know_."

Again, Hermione just looked at him sceptically which finally made Theo snap.

"For crying you loud, I know because we talked and also because she and I were _together in that way_ soon after she and Scorpius called it quits. Leanne was very much a virgin when she and I were together! That's how I know!"

"_Oh._"

"_Yes_, and you're not allowed to repeat to anyone what I just told you - especially not Scorpius. It was bad form and does somewhat go against the friendship code to get in your friend's ex-girlfriend's knickers. At least so soon after the break-up and Scorpius gets so easily offended… You've probably noticed that."

Hermione nodded.

"Well there's that, and he would probably also be pissed off, if he knew that I got laid before he did," Theo added with a snigger that made Hermione shake her head in disbelief.

"Boys."

"What? Girls don't have this sort of rivalry?"

Hermione shrugged. "I suppose we do. Although it's more something like our relationships or our boyfriends being more romantic than theirs."

"Yes, that sounds like a very girl-like way to think," Theo agreed, nodding to himself at which Hermione rolled her eyes playfully.

"Still - I win. And guess, now that I've confessed, I can also let you know that there has been absolutely nothing of the hanky-panky sort going on between them. Leanne hadn't liked Scorpius enough to let him grope her. _Your boyfriend is as pure as driven snow_," Theo revealed and started sniggering gleefully again.

"You, Mister, are so smug about this. That's not very nice of you," Hermione told him in a stern voice, before she too, joined the sniggering. She knew that it wasn't very nice of her either to be so amused about Theo's comments, but then again, she was allowing (and, ahem, welcoming) Scorpius' wandering hands, so she decided that it was absolutely all right to find this amusing.

Besides, it wasn't like Scorpius was ever going to find out, right?

* * *

A/N: Okay, die Geschichte hier wird, denke ich, um die 25 Kapitel haben. Ich habe mir eine ungefähre Storyline bis zum Ende überlegt und hoffe, dass ich die Geschichte gut damit abschließen kann.

Im nächsten Kapitel wird Scorpius Hermine zu Hause besuchen und die Geburtstagsparty wird wahrscheinlich auch ins dieses Kapitel mit eingebaut. Hermine wird dann selbstverständlich übernachten und nicht direkt nach der Party wieder nach Hause gehen. ;)

Schon irgendwie gemein, dass ich auf Deutsch schreibe und es fast keiner verstehen wird. Tja, so bin ich nun mal. ^^ Hehehehehe. Vielleicht sollte ich als Gag das ganze nächste Kapitel komplett auf Deutsch schreiben. Soll ich? *rofl*


	20. Chapter20 Never Tickle a Sleeping Ferret

A/N: Thank you Arkansas Sweetheart for your suggestion. I hope the way I included it is okay.

As I have mentioned in an author's note a while back, not everything that has happened in the books happened in this story. Voldemort was defeated in Hermione's 6th year, so all/only important events from book 5-7 actually occurred and they are squeezed into year 5 and 6 in this story.

* * *

Chapter 20: Never Tickle a Sleeping Ferret

* * *

„So did you like it?" Scorpius whispered in Hermione's ear as he settled in the seat next to hers while the others in the classroom chatted loudly among themselves about their plans for the holidays since the professor had yet to arrive.

"I mean, you did watch it, right?" Scorpius added, watching her reaction closely.

Hermione shifted uncomfortably in her seat. Did he have to bring that up now?

Scorpius smirked. "Well, judging by how you're acting right now, I'd say you did."

Hermione elbowed him lightly in the side.

"I can't believe you sent it to me," she whispered, blushing furiously. "But to answer your question: yes, I have."

Scorpius certainly hadn't been lying when he had told her that his dream had a lot of 'good stuff' in it.

"_And?" _Scorpius probed, wanting to know what she thought.

Hermione narrowed her eyes at him. "You know, you could have warned me of the noise! I fell out of my bed out of panic, when I was searching for my wand to cast a muffling spell!"

This answer only had Scorpius laughing gleefully and gaining the attention of the students sitting in the row in front of them. They all turned around and watched them curiously.

"What's so funny?" Theo asked, wanting to know what had him laughing so mischievously.

For a moment Scorpius actually considered telling him, but when he felt Hermione stiffen beside him, he shook his head.

"Don't mind me. It wasn't really that funny," he told his best friend, who arched an eyebrow, shrugged and went back to his conversation with Flint. When everyone else had gone back to what they had done before as well, Scorpius leaned in again to continue their private conversation.

"Yeah, you were quite loud," he chuckled, eyes still full of mirth.

"Me? You mean your 'fantasy-me'!" Hermione replied indignantly.

Oh, how horrified she had been when she had sat on her bed and watched his dream in the empty dorm room, when her dream self suddenly decided to make very enthusiastic sounds of pleasure at the things her dream partner was doing to her - the very, very sexy things he was doing to her.

Hermione, who hadn't been expecting such a vocal reaction (as most of the dream had been at a fairly soft volume), had of course immediately reached for her wand on her bed stand in panic in order to quickly cast a Muffliato to lower the volume of the noise and to avoid attracting attention from anyone nearby. Considering her 'luck' lately, however, she only worsened the potential embarrassment by accidentally knocking her wand off the bed table and having it clatter on the floor.

Naturally, her dream-self had chosen that exact moment to get _especially vocal_.

Hermione had been torn about what to do: To try and muffle the noise with her pillow or to reach for the wand and risk a few seconds of the noise continuing and possibly attracting listeners. Eventually deciding on doing both, she grabbed a pillow and pressed it on the Dream Shell and tried to reach for her wand with her other hand at the same time. Unfortunately while doing all this, she had lost her balance and fallen out of bed and hit her elbow hard.

Ironically enough, her painful fall had solved her problem as when she had fallen out of the bed, she had taken the bed sheet, the pillow and the Dream Shell with her. The moment the Dream Shell hit the ground, it clicked shut.

Hermione had lain there and groaned in annoyance for not thinking of that solution: to simply click the Dream Shell shut. For someone so smart, she really had some dumb moments.

To say that her sexy mood had disappeared after that is probably self-explanatory.

"So?"

"Yes, I might have found your dream interesting," Hermione admitted.

This answer obviously pleased Scorpius a lot – at least that was what Hermione assumed when she was that smug expression that graced his face after her confession; however, they were unable to continue their discussion as their Transfiguration professor walked in, but Hermione knew that this topic was far from over.

* * *

Hermione had History of Magic in fourth period that day. She was just packing up her things and was about to leave for the next subject with Hannah and Isabelle, when Professor Binns called her back.

"Miss Granger, may I have a word with you?"

Hermione nodded and told her friends to go on without her.

"Yes, Professor Binns?"

"Miss Granger, I have a request," the ghost explained.

Hermione nodded again, encouraging him to continue.

"I was wondering if you could talk a bit about your experience in the war in the next lesson as you have played an important role in it. It would be great for the students to have someone tell them about their experience rather than having to learn the dry facts from books or boring old me telling them. However, I won't hold it against you, if you would rather not, of course. I know that many people don't like talking about the war; and to you all these events are still 'fresh' after all."

Hermione stayed quiet for a moment, not having expected a request like this. Professor Binns was right by assuming that the events were still fresh and that she'd rather not think about them. She hated remembering all the horrible things that had happened, the lives that had been lost, the families that had been destroyed and people's innocence that had been taken…

She remembered Ron and Harry telling her how they had given the Ministry a detailed official statement about what had taken place, so she wasn't entirely sure what there was still left to tell. Their statement, of course, had been released to the public and been reprinted in the history books.

Hermione felt torn, but she supposed she could do Professor Binns this favour. She imagined that that many probably still had questions they were seeking answers to. It was, after all, important for the younger generation to learn about the war and she knew from experience that it was always more interesting to hear and learn historical facts from someone who had been a witness.

So with that thought, Hermione agreed. She would have declined, if Scorpius had been in her History of Magic class as his family had played a significant part in the War and she didn't think that would be comfortable enough talking about everything with him being there. Luckily enough, he was other group, because of the clashing schedules of Muggle Studies and History of Magic.

What she hadn't counted on, however, was Professor Binns asking her to join him in the other group as well after her 'successful lesson'. For one moment Hermione thought that she had the perfect excuse to decline as she had Ancient Ruins during that time, only to have Professor Binns only happily inform her that he had talked to her Professor about it already and she was excused for that day. He had obviously been planning long ahead.

* * *

History of Magic was just as she had predicted. While the talk with the first group had been quite all right, the talk with the second group – Scorpius' group - was just as unpleasant as it could get.

Naturally that group had heard about what she had told the first and had been discussing it. Most of her peers were in complete awe of her and of what she had done for the Wizarding world. It was like they were suddenly seeing her in a whole new light now after she shared her experience.

The break-in of the Gringotts Wizarding Bank and the kidnapping of the dragon seemed to have left an impression on them especially. Even Rose, who was the daughter of one of _the _heroes, seemed very impressed by the many dangerous things Harry, Ron and Hermione underwent. Hermione supposed it was different to hear all these things told by someone else who was not your parent.

It had generally been difficult to tell her peers about what she, Ron and Harry had been doing without giving away too much information about what exactly they had been searching for during their half a year absence from school. She couldn't exactly tell them about the Horcruxes as the knowledge of such evil magic shouldn't be passed on, but be kept secret as it had been before. Her class mates had been a little reluctant to accept her vague explanation about seven highly dark objects - 'weapons' that Voldemort had hoped to secure his immortality with, but when they realized that Hermione wasn't going to share more detailed information, they let the issue go.

Then, much to Hermione's dismay, the discussion had somehow stagnated at the part where Ron, Harry and her had been captured by the Snatchers and brought to Malfoy Manor. Hermione intentionally never mentioned the name of the location the Snatchers had brought them to or that while she had been tortured, Lucius, Narcissa and Draco Malfoy had stood there, watching, but word had still gotten around it seemed.

There was a good dozen of students in her year who were directly related to people that had been in the 'inner circle' of the Dark Lord, but Hermione was willing to bet that no one had felt as uneasy as Scorpius. She was sure that he knew about his family's involvement, but she was also sure that his family had never really talked to him about it.

Many were now wondering how the thing between her and Scorpius was working, although nobody dared asking about it directly.

It was a complete disaster.

* * *

Hermione followed Scorpius when he left the Great Hall after dinner. He had been avoiding her for two days now and it was really starting to agitate Hermione. She hated how distanced he had suddenly become. Since History of Magic, he had avoided sitting with her and quickly walked off, whenever she had tried to approach him. Hermione would've been lying, if she claimed that she wasn't hurt by this.

"Scorpius, wait!" Hermione called after his retreating form. "Will you please stop running away from me?"

Scorpius considered pretending to not hear her just like he had for the two days, but her pleading voice made him stop dead in his tracks. He turned around and tiredly ran his hand over his face.

"Hermione, I really don't know how to behave in front of you or what to say to you after all I've heard. It's just so… I mean, I know that my family used to be involved in the Dark Arts, had supported blood purity idea and that my father and grand-father had been Death Eaters in the past, but I didn't know their part in what happened to you. It was actually never really made public what happened to you exactly when you were captured and now I can't help but feel so damn guilty because if it, since it was my family."

"Scorpius…"

"It's just so hard for me to grasp that people that I care so much about - people from my own family, did these things... let things happen you… and others as well. It's a really crappy feeling."

"Scorpius, I'm not going to deny and say that what happened to me wasn't terrible, but it wasn't your fault. You had nothing to do with it."

"Yeah, but my demented great-aunt, my grandparents… _my father_."

Hermione bit her lower lip and ran a hand through her hair. "Yes, it was your great-aunt and by extension your grandparents and father by standing there and doing nothing. But I have forgiven your father for what happened. He was so young and scared. I don't think there was much he could've done. Your grandmother did make up a lot for it by lying to Voldemort and saving Harry's life that way."

Scorpius shook his head. "You were all young, Hermione. My father could have done something, if he had really wanted to."

"Do you really think he could have? I doubt that Bellatrix Lestrange would have hesitated to kill him, if he had dared to stop what was happening. Of course, it doesn't make it right, but I still understand why he did it. He was afraid and didn't want to put his parents in danger by helping us."

"How can you even be with me? I look so much like my father."

"You do, however you're not him. That's the difference. You are not your father. You can't be held accountable for his past."

Scorpius said nothing and looked down to the floor while Hermione continued, "Your father was brought up differently. Unlike you and me, he was not taught to be as tolerant like we were. You have to remember that _we all live under the same sky, but we don't all have the same horizon. _If you managed to be the person with the values and views you have now, then your father must have come a long way from his prejudiced and intolerant upbringing._"_

Scorpius sighed, but still didn't look at her.

"Just don't push me away, okay?" Hermione asked quietly while looking at him sadly.

This request seemed to make Scorpius realize what his behaviour was doing to her and he immediately snapped out of it.

He walked up to Hermione and embraced her. "I'm sorry, Hermione. I didn't mean to hurt you."

Hermione hugged him back and nodded. She hoped that everything between them was all right now and that things were going back to normal.

They did.

* * *

It was the first week into the Easter Holidays and Hermione was getting ready for Scorpius' birthday party. She was already dressed in her outfit for tonight and only still needed to finish the last touches on her hair and then do her makeup.

"Hermione your boyfriend is here," her brother yelled up the stairs as she was pinning her hair in place.

"What? He's already here?" she yelled back, before looking at the clock on the wall and then adding, "But he's too early!"

Why was Scorpius here so early? He was supposed to pick her up in an hour!

"I'm not ready yet," she complained and jumped when heard someone entering the room.

"Hey," Scorpius greeted her, looking her appreciatively up and down in her royal blue knee-length dress.

"Hi Scorpius," Hermione said back before repeating, "You're too early. I'm not ready!"

Scorpius cocked an eyebrow at her.

"Well, you look pretty ready to me," he disagreed and plopped down to sit on the revolving chair by her desk.

He was glad that he was able to delay the 'meet-the-parents' so far as he wasn't quite ready for that yet. He had been pretty nervous when Hermione had told him how her parents (well, actually it had sounded like her mother mostly) wanted to meet him. He, however, was lucky enough that when he arrived today, Robin explained that their parents were out and that it was just the three of them.

Hermione's room looked pretty much like he had imagined it: a light pastel-coloured and tidy room with big windows that gave her a view to a small garden. The room was decorated with many of pictures of her and her friends and family. There was a bulletin board with little notes and postcards that hung on the wall behind her desk and of course, the obligatory bookshelf. Much to his surprise, most books on the heavily packed shelf seemed to be novels and not, like he had first assumed, non-fictions. There was a neatly made bed with an armoire right next to it, and last but not least, a vanity where she was currently seated in front of, 'fixing herself' to get ready.

"Well, but I'm not," Hermione objected and picked up a little tube on her vanity. "But I guess I could be done in 15-20 minutes."

"15-20 minutes? Why you would still need 15-20 minutes? You're dressed, your hair is done – you're ready to go!"

Hermione looked pointedly at him. "I still haven't done my makeup."

"Why would you nee-" Scorpius complained, but shut up immediately when he saw Hermione's glare. All right then, if she wanted to apply the makeup that she didn't need, then be his guest. In a way she was right - he had been an hour too early.

"Okay, okay. Do whatever you please. Not that I understand why something like that would take so long. It's just a little powder here and powder there, lipstick and voilà," Scorpius muttered to himself, but Hermione still heard him.

Slowly she turned around to face him. "It's not just a little powder here and powder there, but if you think you are such an expert, why don't you do my makeup for me," Hermione told him challengingly. Even though Scorpius found it a bit silly, he still accepted her challenge.

"Okay. I will. I will do your 'much-needed' face-painting." After all, it couldn't that hard, right? He rolled to her on the revolving chair while cracking his knuckles.

"Now let's see," Scorpius talked to himself as he examined the many tubes, little boxes and little bottles. He didn't really understand why anyone would need all of these. Seemed rather superfluous to him. Well, women…

"What are you two doing?" came the question from the figure standing by the doorframe. Both Hermione and Scorpius turned to look and found her brother standing there.

"Oh, Scorpius here volunteered to do my makeup tonight - since he is so convinced that he can apply it faster than I can and still make it look good," Hermione explained. Robin gave her a weird look.

"You are welcome to help," Scorpius offered. "So we can show her that you don't need half an hour to get ready."

"I never said half an hour," Hermione objected. "I asked for 15-20 minutes, so don't exaggerate!"

Robin considered this for a moment. It wasn't like he had anything better to do, so why not? It could be fun (in a really strange way) after all. Not that he would ever say that last part out loud.

"I'm in," he announced and dragged Hermione and her vanity chair to the bed and motioned Scorpius to follow them. He then stood up, gathered Hermione's (or more like his mother's as Hermione had only borrowed them) products in his arms and brought them over to the bed.

"Okay let's do this."

* * *

"How about this?" Scorpius asked and held a little tube that was labelled as 'foundation' under Robin's nose.

Robin took the tube and read the description on the back. "Yeah, this looks good," he replied and opened the cap and put a blob on both his and Scorpius' fingers. Carefully they both applied the liquid evenly on Hermione's face. When they were satisfied with the result, they moved on onto the next product.

"Okay, this is for the eyebrows… I think," Robin guessed as he held up a pen to show it to Scorpius, who agreed to this assessment. Hermione, however, tried very hard not to flinch when she saw the dark brown eye-liner drawing nearer and nearer to her brows.

She assumed that the boys soon came to the conclusion that their assumption had not been correct after making a few strokes with the pencil as they both now had frowns on their faces.

"Um…" Scorpius said carefully and exchanged an uncertain glance with her brother, who seemed to be just as clueless and shrugged.

"Maybe you just have to apply more. It will probably look… different when you draw the whole brow and… re-shape it a little," Robin suggested and ran a finger over his own brow when saying 're-shape'.

Scorpius nodded and went back to his task. Hermione was beginning to feel rather worried when she traced the pressure Scorpius applied with the pen in her mind and tried to picture herself. If her gut feeling was to be trusted, then she now had gigantic caterpillars for eyebrows. Especially when she heard her brother make a suppressed squeaking noise and saw him biting down on his knuckles, Hermione only felt her suspicion confirmed.

"Um, maybe you should stop now," he said carefully.

"Um, yeah," Scorpius agreed and scratched the side of his head.

"Maybe we should apply some of that foundation around that area again," Robin suggested and picked up the small tube again.

"Yes, I think that might not be a bad idea," Scorpius answered in a voice that was distinctly higher than his usual one.

_Oh God_, what had she gotten herself into?

* * *

"It looks…" Scorpius began to say, but then was obviously lost for the right adjective to use.

"Interesting?" her brother offered politely as both men were staring at their handiwork on Hermione's face.

She dreaded to look in the mirror, but slowly began to stand up to walk up to her vanity and her mirror anyway. She was, however, stopped by her brother, who pulled her down by her arm to sit again. Before Hermione could ask him why, he had already pulled out a flat rectangular object from his back pocket and held it close to her face. It only dawned to Hermione what this object was, when she heard a loud 'click'.

"I'm going to use this picture for my Christmas cards next year," her brother announced and quickly slid his phone back into his back pocket, before Hermione could snatch it out of his hands and delete the picture. Not that she was familiar with the technology, but she would just have gone with trial and error, he was sure.

"Don't you dare," Hermione warned as she stood up and walked up to the mirror. The only vocal reaction she was able to give when she saw what her boyfriend and her brother had done to her face, was a choked noise.

_Dear Lord!_ She looked like a complete tranny!

Bright red lipstick, much too strongly applied blue eye shadow, cheeks that had seen far too much rouge and then her eye brows! (Although she supposed that they had done their best to fix the mega-brows – now she only had two funnily curved up brows.) Yet, she had to admit that she did kind of like the subtle body shimmer they had applied - that did look quite fancy, and the mascara was nicely done also. Their job hadn't been a disaster completely.

So while Hermione was checking her appearance in the mirror, the two other occupants of the room were waiting for a dramatic outburst nervously. Their eyes darted from the door and back to her, deciding that they would make for a run for it, should she plan on pouncing on them. However both were lucky that Hermione had enough humour and planned nothing of the sort. Instead she burst out laughing.

"You know, Scorpius, I think I'll go to your party like this."

She had to laugh even harder, when she saw Scorpius' horrified face as he seemed to believe what she said. Even though she was tempted to make him 'suffer' a little longer, Hermione went to assure him that she had only joked that she'd go wash off her face now and then re-do their job quickly, so they could leave for they party.

Hermione was gutsy, but going out in public looking like that was even too much for her.

* * *

Everyone was having a blast at the party. Hermione had been very taken by the cottage by the coast in a small town in Pembrokeshire. It was located on a cliff near a wonderful beach that she hoped Scorpius and she would visit the next day. It was the perfect place to go and relax.

Hermione was lounging on a sofa and in a deep discussion with a Slytherin boy one year below her.

"Beaters are so underrated. We never get the acknowledgement that Seekers and Chasers or even Keepers get. Just because we don't score points doesn't mean that we are unimportant," the 6th year explained while Hermione nodded in agreement.

She wasn't exactly sure how she ended up talking about Quidditch out of all topics, but it was a surprisingly nice conversation nonetheless. Maybe she just had a 'please-talk-about-Quidditch-to-me'-aura that she wasn't aware of.

"Beaters actually have to do the hardest job in the whole team. We need to do a lot of additional work-out so we'd have enough power in our arms to hit those Bludgers and protect our team mates and keep the chasers from the other team from scoring and whatnot. There is a lot of responsibility in our hands, but it's not acknowledged by most people. Most people are just fascinated by the Seekers - just because they end the game and score 150 points at once when they catch the Snitch. All this when they are actually the ones who do less work than any other player in the game - yet they are the ones who receive the most praise."

Hermione never saw the things from that perspective, but what Kevin Higgs just told her had a lot of truth in it - although she would never dream of telling Harry or even her ex that. She also felt a bit guilty as she never cared much for Beaters herself, but then again, Quidditch had never really been her thing.

"Yes, I guess that _is_ the general public's opinion and I can totally understand your frustration. It must really suck."

"Yeah, it does suck, but unfortunately can't be helped. Ironically enough, my father used to play Seeker for the Slytherin Quidditch team," Kevin added with a chuckle.

"Well, you have convinced me. I think my favourite players in Quidditch are Beaters now," Hermione told him before she felt someone sitting down next to her and an arm finding its way around her shoulder.

"Flirting, Hermione?" Scorpius asked.

"Mmmh maybe," Hermione answered cheekily. "Kevin and I were talking about how underrated the position of Beaters generally is and I've decided that that he is right and that I now like Beaters the best."

Scorpius frowned. "I used to be a Chaser."

"The key word in that statement is the word 'used'. You _used _to be a Chaser, but now you aren't. I might have liked that position the best, if you still played, however you are not, so…"

"Yeah, yeah," Scorpius waved her comment off. "Kevin, no matter what you say, Chasers are still the best."

"Second best. They come right after Beaters. The Keepers come third and Seekers last."

"I suppose I can find myself to agree with that. You know, since I'm the bigger person and everything."

While the boys continued to talk about the sport, Hermione excused herself to use the loo. She wasn't actually really going to go to loo, but needed an excuse to leave, so she could start her preparations. Some people had already begun to leave, so it was probably a good time for it now.

* * *

When Scorpius said goodbye to the last guest, Hermione came to hug him from behind.

"Come on. I want to give you something," she told him and then took his right hand in hers.

"Where are you taking me?" Scorpius asked as he let himself being led upstairs and down the hall by his girlfriend.

"Oh, I just wanted to give you my present," Hermione explained as she opened the last door on the left, ushered him inside and pushed him to sit down on the king-sized bed.

"Your present? But you've already given me your present," her boyfriend told her in confusion.

"Oh that. No, that wasn't what I meant. I meant your _real_ present."

Scorpius still looked confused, so Hermione decided to give him a hint.

"Well, my dress does have a bow at the back. I thought that should have been somewhat indication what my present to you was. Especially since you seemed so fond of gifts wrapped with a ribbon on them," she explained saucily and made a quick turn to show him how her dress was tied at the back.

Scorpius' eyes grew wide when he understood what she was implying: _She _was his present! _ACK!_

Hermione giggled on the inside when she saw the expression on his face. He was too cute sometimes! She decided to tease him further.

"You have the permission to unwrap your present, you know," she told him as she began to play with one of the straps of her dress while giving him a coy look.

Scorpius mouth went dry. Of course he had hoped for some kind of action tonight, but he certainly hadn't expected her to be willing to go all the way with him!

He was one lucky birthday boy.

Scorpius slid of the edge of the bed, stood up and slowly walked to Hermione, who was now leaning against the wardrobe next to the bed, playing with the hem of her dress and flashing to him what looked a lot like suspenders.

Oh Merlin, was she trying to kill him wearing something racy like that?

He came to stop in front of her, leaned forward and trapped her between his arms while looking at her suggestively. Hermione returned it with a sultry look of her own as she ran her hands up his torso. She then wound one arm around his neck, buried her hand in his hair while the other was occupied with the top buttons of his shirt.

Scorpius' skin prickled and tingled in the places she let her fingers dance over. He cupped her face between his hands kissed her and undid her hair, releasing the locks from the up-do and letting them fall to her shoulders. Slowly, he then reached behind her back and pulled at the bow while Hermione feathered kisses down his jaw and his neck. Their breathing had now become significantly laboured and their faces were flushed.

"This needs to come off," Hermione murmured against his ear and tugged at his shirt.

Scorpius immediately complied and discarded it on the floor while his girlfriend ogled him appreciatively before kissing him deeply and pushing him in direction of the bed. When the back of his legs hit the bed, Scorpius let his hands wander down her back and stop at her bum. Then without a warning Scorpius suddenly hoisted her up, earning a muffled, surprised squeal from Hermione. Her legs immediately wrapped themselves around him while he turned around to gently laid her on the bed.

His breath tickled her neck and her shoulder as he hovered over her and kissed her collarbone. Hermione closed her eyes and tilted her head to the side to allow him better access. To reciprocate the sensations, Hermione pulled him closer and ground herself to him, earning a gasp and shiver from Scorpius. Scorpius could practically feel her wicked smile against the crook of his neck as she repeated the action. When her hands travelled south to his waistband, however, Scorpius stopped her.

"We can't do this here."

"What? Why?" Hermione asked in confusion and let her arms drop from his hips onto the bed.

"This is my parents' bedroom," Scorpius explained. "Let's take this to my bedroom."

Hermione frowned. "Your bedroom is occupied, or at least was the last time I walked by. Whoever they were, they sounded mighty busy. And I fixed up this room here so nicely…"

Scorpius could see that she had indeed decorated the room with candles and whatnot to achieve what he supposed was a romantic atmosphere, however, this was still not the place for them to do the deed. "I appreciate the effort, Hermione, but I don't need this. Let's just g-"

"But I do care! This romantic ambience was actually more for my sake than it was meant for yours. I'm a woman and I want everything to be as perfect as possible. I wanted it to be romantic when we lost our virginities to each other," Hermione interrupted.

"Whoever said I was a virgin?" Scorpius asked defensively, feeling caught off guard with her suddenly saying that to him.

"So you're claiming that you're not? Theo-, I mean, I just very strongly assumed that you were," Hermione quickly covered up her slip-up.

Scorpius, however, caught it. "Theo told you I was a virgin? That little gossiping tosser."

"Hey, hey, no need to go and insult him. Even if he hadn't told me, I would have known. No offense, but that time we made out in your Head Student's office and you had your hand up my skirt, was pretty telling," Hermione explained while Scorpius scowled at the memory.

"But that's totally okay. Nobody can be an expert at everything. Sometimes you need practice. Besides, now that I've shown what to do and how to do it, you're doing great!"

"We have a guest room," he suggested, but the look on Hermione's face told him that it was either _this_ or_ nothing._ So, of course, Scorpius went with the not-nothing.

* * *

Scorpius glared at his girlfriend. How dare she? How dare she laugh in a situation like this? It would have been one thing if it had been the cute sort of laughing, but it obviously wasn't the case here.

"Scorpius, I'm so sor-" Hermione tried to apologize to him, however, failed miserably and broke into another fit of laughter as she covered her face with her hands. She did feel sorry for upsetting him, still she couldn't help it. This was just too funny!

"Oh shut up," Scorpius snapped at her and pulled all of the bed sheets to him, leaving her starkers, in hope that she would freeze, because that would just serve her right.

If she did freeze, Hermione didn't let it on. Instead she propped up on her elbow to look at him. "Honestly, I really am sorry," she giggled.

She knew that this was an awful moment to laugh, especially since Scorpius was so upset about what happened - or well, didn't happen - that it would indeed be best to shut up, but it was so damn hard!

Hermione tried again. "How was I supposed to react? I mean, I was more than ready to get down to it - ready to get down and dirty with you, when you suddenly started shouting," Hermione explained, the amusement still present in her eyes, before adding, "At your… _penis_."

Scorpius' eyes narrowed to slits and he swatted her pointing finger away from his family jewels. His girlfriend was walking on very thin ice right now. She should better be watching it or he would take a pillow and smother her with it.

"I don't know the appropriate etiquette on how to behave, when your boyfriend shouts at his penis, when it decided not to… co-operate. Honestly, how would you react, if I suddenly started yelling at my lady business?"

Scorpius decided not to dignify her with an answer.

"If it helps, I did hit my head on the headboard, when you yelled, because I was so startled. Hurt pretty bad," Hermione tried to soothe him and actually succeeded to some extent.

That success evaporated quickly, however, when she continued, "You know, it's actually not entirely uncommon for men to have erection problems. Pressure and stres-"

"Oh for fuck's sake, can you please stop talking? I just want to forget this," Scorpius finally snapped at her.

While he appreciated the gesture of trying to make him feel better, it still didn't mean that he wanted her to discuss it with him. If it was up to him, they would forget and pretend it never happened.

Hermione sighed and lay back on her back. Scorpius was glad that she seemed to have taken the hint and given up on her cheer-up talk. To him, forgetting just seemed the best policy here, so they both lay there in silence until Scorpius found something else to attack her with.

"You're the one to blame for this!" he accused. "If you hadn't insisted on having sex in this room – my parents' bedroom - then we wouldn't be having this problem! I would have given you the night of your life. There's a great possibility I was even conceived in this very bed. I'll have you know that I'm a honeymoon child as I was pretty born nine months after my parents' wedding. And they happened to spend their honeymoon here!"

Hermione wanted to snort when she heard his accusation and comment on the nickname he had given himself, but knew better than to do that.

_Never tickle a sleeping ferret_.

No, provocation would definitely be the wrong choice to make.

"Oh, are we back to that again?" she asked dryly. "I told you that one of your friends used your room with another party guest. You can't expect me to have sex with you on those soiled sheets! It's nasty."

No, he didn't forget about that. Whoever that bugger was that had dared to desecrate his bed, should be praying that he didn't find out his identity.

"And as I have explained to you, we have a guest room. But nooo! You had to insist that we stay he-"

"Yes, and I told you that I didn't know about the guest room. You didn't show me the entire house, so how was I supposed to know? I was hardly going to snoop around by myself in hope there was another bedroom. Contrary to your belief, I'm not a snoop. So I fixed up this room for us," Hermione interrupted him as she was beginning to feel annoyed as well. Oh yes, and not to mention cold.

Hermione tried to pull for some of the bed sheets, but Scorpius had a hard grip in it. So she pulled harder, resulting in Scorpius to roll to his side, facing her.

"Honestly, what kind of boyfriend are you? Keeping all the bed sheets all to yourself, letting me freeze," she complained and wrapped herself in said sheets.

"Well, that was the general idea, when I took the sheets, in case you didn't know."

"Yes, I figured something like that," Hermione muttered and closed her eyes. Maybe Scorpius was right. Maybe they should stop talking and forget all about this. She was feeling pretty tired now.

Scorpius sighed and watched his girlfriend silently. How did this great night turn into this? Well, he actually knew the reason, but he still regretted that they were now fighting. He needed to make this right.

"Look, I'm sorry," Scorpius told Hermione and reached out one hand to caress her cheek.

Hermione opened her eyes slowly. "I'm sorry, too. I shouldn't have laughed the way I did."

"No, you shouldn't have. Although, I can somewhat understand your reaction. It must have been funny from your perspective," Scorpius conceded.

Hermione smiled and moved closer to snuggle into him. Scorpius immediately draped an arm around her and drew little circles on her back.

"You looked beautiful tonight."

"Thank you, that's a very sweet thing of you to say."

"Yeah, I thought I should maybe try and say something nice to you tonight for a change."

Hermione chuckled and propped her head up on his chest. "The foreplay was really good."

She felt his chest rumbling with laughter before he answered, "Thank you."

"Yeah, thought I should say something flattering in return," Hermione replied cheekily and kissed the underside of his jaw and lay her head back on his chest and they both slowly drifted off into peaceful sleep.

* * *

A/N: Yes, I know, I know. This is probably not what many of you have been hoping for, but no 'Slytherin-sex-gods' here. That name/expression (Slytherin sex god) just makes me roll my eyes every single time I read it.

That one scene where Hermione and Scorpius have a row over his 'problem' was inspired by a movie (or maybe it was a TV show, I don't remember) I saw, although I can't recall the name right now.

"We all live under the same sky, but we don't all have the same horizon." is a quote by Konrad Adenauer, the first Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany. Although I also read somewhere that Adenauer quoted the Greek fabulist Aesop. (Original German quote: „Wir leben alle unter dem gleichen Himmel, aber wir haben nicht alle den gleichen Horizont.")


	21. Chapter 21: The Draco Malfoy Surprise

A/N: Happy New Year, my dear readers! Ich hoffe, ihr hattet alle einen guten Rutsch! :)

* * *

Chapter 21: The Draco Malfoy Surprise

* * *

Hermione awoke to the bright and warm rays of the morning sun. The sun tickled her face, coaxing her to rise and open her eyes. Hermione stretched lazily and rolled to her side to find Scorpius already up and watching her with a soft smile.

"Good morning, sleepy head."

"Morning," Hermione murmured, closing her eyes again and shuffling closer to him.

"Slept well?" he asked as he stroked her hair.

"Mmh, I did. Although I'm still a virgin," Hermione mumbled and Scorpius could feel her teasing smile against the crook of his neck.

Scorpius snorted and pinched her in the arm lightly. "And whose fault is that?"

Hermione cackled in amusement. Actually, she didn't mind being a virgin. Yesterday's fun had been worth it, however, she still doubted that Scorpius would agree. "What time is it?"

Scorpius picked up the clock on the bed stand. "Quarter to eleven."

"Already? It doesn't feel like we slept that long… Scorpius?"

"Yeah?"

"Can we go down to the beach and take a walk later?"

Scorpius nodded. "Sure. We could also visit the small cave about a mile from here, if you want."

"I'd love that."

Scorpius nodded and kissed her shoulder blade. "Okay. So, you hungry?"

"Only a bit. I'm actually more content to stay in bed a while longer," Hermione admitted.

"I could make you breakfast in bed," Scorpius suggested. "Nothing fancy, just some of the leftovers from the party - but you could eat it here."

"I think I will take you up on that offer. I've never had breakfast in bed before."

"See how lucky you are to have me as your boyfriend?"

"Very lucky, yes," Hermione agreed and threw her leg lazily over his. When she did this, Hermione discovered something very interesting. She lifted the bed sheets to peek under them just to be sure.

"Now that is the bodily reaction we needed yesterday," she commented before giving Scorpius a sly look.

Scorpius removed the sheets from her grip and covered himself up.

"Yes, that usually happens in the morning. And technically it was the reaction that we had needed earlier this morning, not yesterday," he corrected her in slight embarrassment, feeling a bit like being put on display by her. After a while he noticed the expectant and suggestive expression on his girlfriend's face.

"_Now_?" Scorpius asked as he arched a brow at her.

"Now is a good time as any," she answered.

"Well, oh, o-okay. I just thought since it's so early in the morning…," Scorpius trailed off.

"Scorpius, I'm a teenager. My hormones are all over the place. The time of the day doesn't really matter," she told him boldly and shortly after that, their virgin days were over.

* * *

"I have a proposition," Hermione announced after her breathing had somewhat gone back to normal again.

"A proposition?" Scorpius repeated with his eyes closed. He still needed a bit longer to recover from their recent activity.

Hermione nodded. "Yes, I propose we do this on a regular basis from this day on."

Scorpius chuckled. "I think I can find myself agreeing to that proposition. It's one of your better ideas."

"Yeah, it is, isn't it?" she giggled while brushing her fingers over his chest, down to his stomach. Scorpius read this as signal to make his own move and immediately pounced on her again and kissed her deeply. Hermione was lost in the kiss until she heard an unexpected sound coming from down the hall. Her eyes shot open and she listened intently for the sound again. Her partner seemed not to have noticed anything and kept continuing what he was doing, not realizing that she wasn't an active participant anymore. When the sound – footsteps it seemed – drew even closer, Hermione pushed Scorpius off her.

This action was not particularly well received by said person as he looked very miffed at her sudden change of mood and ungentle rejection of his advances. He took a deep breath and was about to start complaining about her behaviour towards him, when he too, heard the approaching footsteps – and the voice of his father…

* * *

Hermione and Scorpius looked at each other in horror. His father was in the house and obviously on his way to the very room they were currently occupying. After all it was his bedroom they had invaded and used as their 'playground'. Hermione regretted her stubbornness and insistence on staying in the room very much now. She really needed to start listening to Scorpius more in the future. His concerns were often justified. This particular situation only proved it.

Now she (well, actually they) would have to suffer the consequence and bear the humiliation that was to come.

The mere thought of it already sent Hermione in full on panic mode. Her boyfriend, while distinctly calmer, didn't look like he had a clue on what to do next either. They were going to be caught by his father in a bedroom they had no business to be in. It was a nightmare!

Hermione bolted out of the bed, taking the bed sheets with her, leaving Scorpius naked as the day he was born. No matter how hard he tried to calm her down, she refused to respond positively to it. The feeling of sheer panic had completely taken over and Hermione only ever shook her head at anything he said to her.

They both froze momentarily when they heard the door knob being turned, but snapped out of it quickly. Hermione let out a silent scream and quickly dove under the bed while Scorpius hastily grabbed one of the pillows to protect his modesty.

* * *

Draco Malfoy just stepped into one of his greatest nightmares. And to think that the day had started out wonderfully with him and his wife travelling to their holiday cottage in Wales to celebrate their son's birthday with him! How laughable! (Only that Draco was not able to laugh.)

He had been completely unsuspecting and in a fabulous mood when he had walked upstairs to his and Astoria's bedroom to put away their bags. However the sight that had greeted him when he opened the door to his room had completely changed his cheerful mood: his son sitting on _his_ bed with only a pillow (_his _pillow) to hide his private bits from view and a delicate feminine foot disappearing under the bed. It was a sight that almost made Draco scream and run (_far, far away_) in terror.

"Hello father," his son greeted him casually as if he weren't sitting nude on his father's bed or couldn't be less bothered about being caught doing so. Draco, however, knew his son quite well and was sure that Scorpius was probably panicking on the inside.

"Good afternoon my son," Draco answered slowly, choosing to stay equally calm and composed and deciding not to throw a fit and vent out his emotions. "And a hello to you too, Miss Granger."

* * *

Hermione was beyond mortified and prayed for the ground to open and swallow her up already. She couldn't imagine a situation worse to be caught in by a parent (except for maybe being caught in the middle of the act)! Why, oh why had she insisted on staying in this room so much?

"... you too, Miss Granger."

Oh God! Now Draco Malfoy was directly acknowledging her presence as well. There was no way for her to keep low profile now! Why couldn't he just have pretended that she wasn't there? What was she supposed to say to him? How was she supposed to address him? Calling him 'Ferret' was definitely out of question (not to mention disrespectful), and only saying 'Malfoy' like she used to when they went to school together, was plain odd. Especially since it was Scorpius' name too and also because Malfoy was more than twice her age and had so politely and formally referred to her as 'Miss Granger'. So 'Mister Malfoy' would be a good choice, perhaps?

"Good afternoon, Mister Malfoy," she greeted him back in a high-pitched voice before an uncomfortable silence fell over them, only making the situation even more awkward than it already was for everyone.

It was Draco who decided to break that silence again. "Well, this is… unexpected. I never thought that this room would already be occupied..."

Scorpius shifted awkwardly on the bed while searching his father's face, but not saying anything.

"… but I guess there's always the guest room down the hall. I suppose your mother and I just have to relocate," Draco continued telling his son while Hermione still lay stiffly under the bed and made no sound.

"I'll just…," Draco began and motioned to the door.

"Okay, father," Scorpius answered, a great wave of relief washing over him at the prospect of his father finally leaving the room.

His father nodded at him one more time before he disappeared and left him and Hermione alone again.

* * *

Draco tried his hardest to process what he had just witnessed. All the hopes that the thing between his son and Granger was nothing serious - nothing but a passing fancy - had gone out the window. The thing, that _relationship_ (Draco shuddered visibly when this word entered his mind) between Scorpius and Granger was pretty damn serious.

He could have lived happily, pretending that the thing between them didn't exit, but now he had seen it with his very own eyes - and it was something that he, very much to his dismay, was going to have to accept now…

Although his attempts had been very clumsy, Scorpius had obviously stayed persistent and refused to give up. He had continued casting his fishing rod into the sea near that specific coral reef (which Draco assumed was the Hogwarts library) and surprisingly enough, managed to catch the very fish (the Granger-fish) he had wanted. (Draco suspected that it was only beginner's luck.) Granger had taken the so lavishly offered bait and was here to stay. Might as well invite her for birthday lunch they had planned on having with their son now - and hence prompting Draco to turn around and walk back to the master bedroom and knock. Waiting a few seconds to give them time to get decent in case they still weren't, he then opened the door.

However from the he found when he entered the room, it was safe to say that the teenagers must not have heard his warning knock, because he was greeted with the very pale and very naked bottom of his son who was crouching by the bed and trying to coax his girlfriend to come out. When the all the nice talking didn't work, his son snatched her by an ankle and tried to yank her out from under the bed under a great deal of protest.

"No, Scorpius! _Let go_! Leave me here to die of mortification in peace, please," she told him dramatically.

Draco could practically hear his son roll his eyes. "Oh, come on now! Don't be ridiculous! It wasn't really that bad. Sure, my father was taken by surprise, but he handled it pretty well. Things could have been much worse." (Yes, because Draco Malfoy was a cool father like that, Granger.)

Granger, however, chose not to answer and stayed put where she was.

"Don't make me crawl under the bed to get you," his son warned, starting to sound a bit annoyed, but Granger still decided to play mute and did not budge one inch.

"Hermione," Scorpius tried again, but didn't get to finish what he was going to say as the older Malfoy picked this very same moment to make his presence known to them and coughed loudly. Scorpius jumped slightly at this and his head whipped around. (Draco also registered a rather loud thud coming from under the bed, which he assumed came from Granger, who must have accidentally hit herself after being startled by him.)

"I hate to interrupt this conversation between you young people, but I wanted to let you know that lunch will be served in fifteen minutes. Miss Granger you are of course cordially invited to join us. My wife has been looking forward to meet you for some time now."

There was a short silence before Granger gathered enough courage to answer him. "Yes, thank you. I will gladly join you."

"Well then. I'll be seeing you downstairs." And with that Draco left the two 'idiots matched in heaven' as he now mentally referred to them, to themselves and exited the room.

* * *

Twenty minutes later the two teenagers came trotting down the stairs (thankfully fully clothed) and headed into the conservatory where lunch was being served. Granger was tiptoeing behind Scorpius, using him, Draco assumed, as a 'shield'.

"Oooh, there you are!" Astoria immediately cooed at the sight of her only child and enveloped him in a tight hug. "Hello Miss Granger."

"Hello Mrs Malfoy."

Astoria beamed.

"I can't believe my baby is eighteen! I remember when you were this small," she sniffed, showing Scorpius exactly how small he had been and reminisced in old memories before snapping out of it and looking proudly at him. "Happy birthday, my scorpion!"

Scorpius smiled at her and patiently let her continue cuddling him. "Thank you, mother."

"Did you have a good time at your party, darling?" Astoria asked.

Draco snorted when he heard this question. "Yes, of course he did. He had plenty of good time - in his parents' bed," he muttered to himself, however not quietly enough for the others not to hear him.

Astoria looked at him in confusion while Scorpius and Hermione's faces turned red in embarrassment at Draco's comment.

"What? Draco what are you sayi– oh. _Oh!_" Astoria exclaimed when she finally understood what her husband had been implying. She quickly glanced at her husband again to confirm her suspicions before she turned to her son and gave him a reproachful look.

"_Scorpius_!"

"We're sorry?" Scorpius offered and scratched his head sheepishly while Hermione still stood behind Scorpius and nodded her head vigorously in agreement. Draco almost felt sorry for her.

When nobody else did anything else to remotely lift the discomfort in the room, Draco decided to say something.

"How about we have lunch now?" he suggested, trying to steer everyone to a different topic.

"Ah yes, that's an excellent idea, Draco. Everybody please take a seat," Astoria agreed, happy that her husband knew how to handle situations like these better than her. It was so terribly awkward! She was glad that she wasn't the one who had barged in on the two teenagers.

When everyone had settled and filled their plates, normal conversation began to flow.

"Miss Granger, I've been looking forward to meeting you for a while now! Scorpius has told me so much about you. It's great to finally be able to sit here and talk to you," Astoria addressed her son's girlfriend.

Hermione sent Scorpius a questioning 'You did?'-look (which he answered with a 'Naturally.' that made Hermione feel all mushy inside) before she returned Astoria's sincere smile.

"It's a pleasure to finally meet you too, Mrs Malfoy. You have a very beautiful home. I love the view that you have from here. It must be even lovelier in the summer. Oh, and please call me Hermione," Hermione replied and felt her discomfort slowly melting away at the cordial nature of the Malfoy wife.

Astoria nodded. "Of course, Hermione. Please call me by my first name also. Mrs Malfoy sounds so awfully formal. Call me Astoria."

* * *

The lunch went much better than Hermione had dared to hope. Even though Malfoy would occasionally drop a line about on how Scorpius and Hermione had invaded his bedroom (this earned him a few elbows in the rib from his wife), the lunch was pleasant affair and Hermione genuinely enjoyed herself.

Hermione had just excused herself to the loo, when Astoria had again busied herself with coddling her son and showering him with presents they had gotten him for his birthday; Draco immediately took this moment as an opportunity to have a private word with Hermione.

"Miss Granger, would you please come over here for a second?"

Hermione nodded slowly and walked over to where Draco was standing at. What could he possibly want from her? Hermione only hoped that Draco Malfoy would spare her the speech where he told her that she wasn't good enough for his son and that she should stay away. (Not that she would – she was defiant like that.)

"Yes, Mister Malfoy?" Hermione asked while watching him with veiled suspicion.

"Miss Granger, I hope you don't mind, but seeing as your relationship with my son is rather serious, I have taken the liberty of getting these for you," Draco explained and gestured to a parcel sitting on the table to his right.

Hermione couldn't veil her emotions this time. She had expected him to give her a stern talk, yes, but not get her a, well, a _gift_. Now that was a surprise. (Although Hermione couldn't quite determine yet, whether it was a good or a bad surprise.)

"Thank you," Hermione told him politely as she gingerly reached for the heavy parcel. She tore the paper carefully and promptly blushed scarlet when she recognized the package's content: Her boyfriend's father had gotten her what seemed like a six month supply of contraceptive potion! (Gah!) Had he gotten them for her when he had 'gone to the loo' earlier?

Draco nodded at her. "I trust you to take the potion regularly to prevent pregnancy as neither you nor my son is ready for such responsibility. Apart from that, I'm also far too young and handsome to become a grandparent yet, so I would appreciate if you two waited a few years with procreation."

Hermione blushed even harder. "We'll be careful… and I will start taking the potion from today on. The gift is very thoughtful of you. Thank you. "

Draco clasped his hands behind his back. "Well, you are at the source. Malfoy Apothecary is the market leader in Britain for medical potions. If you need anything – like more those," Draco gestured at the little blue bottles, "then write me an owl and let me know. Or if you have any questions on how take them, contact me… or better, contact my wife - although I have included a detailed information leaflet in the box, so I don't think there should be any problems.

"You have to ingest a bottle once a week after a meal. It doesn't matter which meal as long as you remember to always take the potion on the same weekday. I could also get you a contraceptive potion that must only be taken once a month, if you would prefer that, but that version of the potion has more side effects. We are still working on remedying that problem."

"Oh, no that's okay. The potion you've gotten me here is fine. And I will contact you, should there be any questions…"

Draco nodded, looking relieved that she was being cooperative. "Good… Well, we should probably head back to the others…"

"Yes," Hermione agreed before quickly rushing off to Scorpius.

* * *

A/N: Thank you to Lena8993 and anon Guest for telling me the name of the TV show that I borrowed one scene in the last chapter from. The scene was from OTH (S6E07). It's a very funny episode.


	22. Chapter 22: Hatchets, Kittens & Monsters

Chapter 22: Hatchets, Cuddly Kittens and Other Monsters

* * *

Hermione sat down awkwardly on the couch by the large windows. She and Scorpius had returned from their trip only moments ago. The walk on the beach had been wonderfully romantic and the trip to the cave had been equally enjoyable (at least Hermione thought so).

On their way to the cave Scorpius had recounted the myth about the nasty water ghoul that was supposedly living in the cave and loved luring young children into their doom. The cave had become a popular spot for young children, especially Muggle ones, to dare and challenge each other to go into because of this. Recent eye witness reports made by wizards and witches, however, have shot down the theory of the water ghoul. The witnesses claimed that they had been attacked by a 'menacing looking house elf'. It was now widely assumed that the elf (if it indeed was an elf), must have done so to defend its home from intruders, terrorizing them to scare them off.

Hermione and Scorpius weren't able to confirm this rumour about the house elf (or the ghoul), however accidentally ended up scarring a small Muggle boy that looked like he could be no older than the age of ten, for life. The young lad had obviously been dared by his friends and was tiptoeing gingerly around the cave, not noticing the approaching couple. It wasn't until Hermione and Scorpius were standing three feet away from him, when the boy finally noticed them – and screamed bloody murder. And to top it all, the boy had, when racing past them, knocked into Scorpius and sent said person flying into a knee-deep water hole.

So when he and Hermione got back from their trip, Scorpius immediately went upstairs to change out of his soaked clothes, leaving her in the parlour in the company of his father.

* * *

Here she was again - alone in a room with Draco Malfoy. His behaviour surprised and annoyed Hermione at the same time. She knew that she should have been grateful that he had chosen to be cordial to her and wasn't hurling nasty insults like he had when they went to school together, but Hermione still couldn't help herself. Him acting so friendly was becoming downright creepy!

Hermione decided to address this matter. "It's really not necessary to act the way you do."

Draco tore his eyes away from the newspaper to look at her.

"Act like what?" he asked in confusion.

"So _overly polite_. I know you don't like me and that you don't approve of my relationship with your son. You don't have to pretend," Hermione explained calmly.

Draco made an amused face.

"Miss Granger, while you are right that I'm not exactly jumping for joy over your relationship with Scorpius, I see no reason to be impolite to you. Although, of course, the fact that it would get me into trouble with my wife and son, if I acted anything but cordial towards you, does play a crucial part," he replied.

Hermione nodded at his answer. Malfoy acting so mature was a whole new world to her! Then again, he had had twenty-five years to grow up… He was even 'friendly' with Harry and Ron now. However it would still take some time for her to get used to this 'new and improved' Draco Malfoy.

"I'm fine with cordial, but I think we can stop overdoing the politeness thing. It's awkward."

"Would you have preferred me giving you and my son the bollocking of your life? Trust me when I say that I was very close to doing exactly that," Draco told Hermione while fixing her with a stern look that made her squirm uncomfortably.

He continued, "You're lucky that I was so shocked – it saved your arse from being getting bollocking! … Honestly, imagine yourself with a son and finding him in bed with say - Pansy Parkinson."

Hermione cringed.

"Yes, Granger. Welcome to my world," Draco told her flatly before adding patronizingly, "I understand you are still young and that you probably haven't outgrown the phase where you are willing to let go of childhood grudges, but I'm a father of an eighteen-year-old and think such behaviour is immature. This is why I'm willing to bury the hatchet; it's also because I know that it would mean a lot to my only son."

Hermione glowered at him. Him and mature? Hah! His little speech just now only proved that he was anything but.

"Malfoy, I would really appreciate if you stopped acting like you're the bigger person here. And there is also no need to get all patronizing on me."

Draco smirked at her. "I do that to Potty and Weasel all the time. It irritates them to no end! They can't be rude to me without feeling like complete arses or childish for their behaviour. I knew you would hate it, too."

Hermione scoffed inwardly. Yes, so much for being mature!

"Grudges do you no good, Granger. You need to grow up and let them go."

Hermione fixed him with her own pointed stare. "I think we both know that I'm a forgiving person, considering I have forgiven you for your past…"

Draco's smug expression slipped at her last comment.

"I'm not that person anymore," he said defensively.

"I know. If you still were, then your son wouldn't be the wonderful person that he is... Look, if you're willing to bury the hatchet then so am I."

Draco looked at her thoughtfully before giving her his answer. "Let's bury it then, Granger."

* * *

Hermione had fallen into a cuddly kitten mode after the day of Scorpius' birthday. Now whenever they spent time together, she would notably seek closeness. It was as if she needed reassurance that he hadn't lost interest and wasn't going to drop her like a hot potato now that she had given herself to him.

Scorpius tried his best to show her that that wasn't going to happen by little gestures like grabbing and holding her hand or by snaking an arm around her and pulling her close. Fortunately enough these actions did indeed seem to lessen her worries.

However the cuddly kitten mode only lasted for so long. When Hermione felt reassured enough that their relationship was solid, she reverted back to her old normal and much less cuddly self. Scorpius actually wouldn't have minded the 'clingy Hermione' a while longer, for it had been a very nice stroke for his ego to have her all needy and dependent.

Unfortunately when the cuddly Hermione-kitten disappeared, another kitten, or monster if you will, made its appearance. For some reason the orange menace still had it in for him and would constantly creep up on him and then very sneakily plant itself on his lap to take a catnap. Not only did it do that, no, it would also very cleverly claw its claws to Scorpius' trousers, so Scorpius couldn't pick him up (at least not without pulling strings out of the trousers or scratching Scorpius in the process). Scorpius thought that the furball was taking its vendetta against him a step too far now.

Luckily enough, today Scorpius had been spared from that particular fate as Hermione's head rested on his lap while they were lounging in the living room after their trip to Muggle London earlier. Puffball, however, still found a way to plague him by lying on the top of the backrest of the sofa right next to Scorpius' head and purring – very loudly.

_Purr, purr, purr. Purr, purr, purrrrr!_

Scorpius doubted that he could ever be a cat person. He was an owl person through and through!

* * *

Draco was surprised at the sight of his son his study. He would have thought that Scorpius had long left the manor to spend his day with his… Granger.

"Scorpius, I thought you were going off to see your girlfriend," he commented.

Scorpius nodded.

"I was. I mean, I am, but I wanted to ask you for something first," Scorpius explained and sat down on the chair opposite to his father.

"And that is?"

Scorpius sighed. "Hermione's got a bladder infection and she's been bugging me about it ever since. Even going so far and blaming me for it… I hoped you had something for me that I could give her before she transforms into Hermzilla again."

"What on earth is a Hermzilla, Scor?"

"It's something her brother calls her when she's on a warpath. It's a blended word of 'Hermione' and 'Godzilla'. Godzilla is a fictional Muggle monster that loves going on a rampage, scaring Japanese people and destroying their cities - with Tokyo always being particularly unfortunate… Imagine a dragon, only much, much bigger."

"Right," Draco answered slowly. Is that what they taught students in Muggle Studies at Hogwarts? Well never mind, he could definitely picture giant Granger terrorizing innocent people and wrecking their cities. After all he had witnessed her temper more than he could count at school. The Hermzilla was very fitting image when it came to her.

"So, do you have something I can get her off my case with?"

"Of course I have. However I'll have to floo over to the store first for that. I'll get it for you now," Draco told his son before he got up and went over to the fireplace and disappeared in the emerald green flames. Not ten minutes later, Draco reappeared with a healing potion for Hermione.

"Here."

"Thank you," Scorpius told his father, accepting the blue bottle gratefully. When he was about to slide the vial into his pocket, Scorpius noticed a small note attached to it. He unfolded and read it curiously – and immediately choked on his own spit.

"Father, I can't give her this with that note you wrote! However funny I find it, I'm afraid she won't agree."

"Well, she obviously forgot to do it, so someone needs to remind her. But suit yourself and feel free to be the one telling her."

Scorpius considered this option for a second before he dismissed it and reattached the note to the bottle. "I think your note will do fine."

"Yeah, I thought so."

* * *

"This is so inappropriate," Hermione said indignantly when she finished reading the note.

'_Always urinate directly after intercourse, Granger. Cuddle later_.'

Scorpius barely managed to keep a straight face and contain his laughter when he watched her reaction. _Hah! His father was the best!_

* * *

One good thing, apart from the obvious (her feeling better and being cured), was the fact that he was finally getting laid again. However just like the last time, Scorpius couldn't say he appreciated the circumstance under which this happened again. So naturally, Scorpius wasted no time to share his opinion on this matter.

"Why do you always do this?" Scorpius asked in frustration.

"Do what?" Hermione asked him somewhat confused as she collected her scattered clothes off the floor.

"Force me to have sex with you under stressful circumstances!" he said accusingly.

"Force you? I hardly forced you. You participated on your own free will. When you say I forced you, you make it sound like I raped you or something… Besides, don't you have a sense of adventure?"

Scorpius looked at her blankly. "No. I used to have a sense of adventure, but it ran off and drowned itself in the sea after my father walked in on us," he answered flatly and picked up his shirt. Hermione held back a gleeful cackle.

"I would have expected you to be the one freaking out, considering you were the one who hid under a bed," he continued.

"Thirty minutes is plenty of time. Plus, we would have heard my parents' car coming up the driveway from my room. The chance of us being surprised by them was very slim, so I don't get what you're so ratty about. And the sex wasn't bad… or was it?" Hermione asked nervously, her cheekiness having disappeared and her eyes now betraying her insecurity.

Scorpius sighed. "No, of course it wasn't bad, but I would still appreciate, if there wasn't any sort of pressure next time we do this. Might be okay for women, but for men this is not cool at all."

"Request duly noted. However if I may say so, you do perform well under pressure, sir."

Scorpius took a pillow and smacked it against her bottom. "You really are something."

Hermione grinned at him. "Why, thank you! Now come on, let's head back downstairs."

* * *

Scorpius' eyes were still glued to the television when Hermione turned the device off and put the disc back into its case.

"Don't you want to know what happens next?" Scorpius asked with a deep frown on his face.

"Oh, I already know how the story continues. I've read the books," she answered with a shrug and turned off the stereo as well.

When she turned around to Scorpius again, Hermione was a tad unsettled by the look he was giving her. She wasn't sure what his problem was, but the glare he was fixing her with would make you assume that she had betrayed him the worst way possible.

"Great, so just because you already know what's going to happen, you can't be bothered. How very kind of you." Okay, so this was what he was upset about? Hermione tried hard not to roll her eyes.

"Please don't mind me. What I want is really not that important," he continued sulkily.

Hermione sighed. He was having one of his overly dramatic moments. "Scorpius, it's not like I won't watch the other two films with you. I want to see them too, but don't you think 228 minutes are enough for today?"

Hermione picked up a box from the shelf. "The extended version of the second one is even longer… 235 minutes… Scorpius, I promise if you come tomorrow, we'll watch the next part."

Scorpius nodded sulkily and folded his arms across his chest. "Okay, we'll watch the other two films tomorrow."

"One."

"Oh, so the second film can end so unsatisfyingly like this one? I think not," he protested.

They continued discussing (or arguing, if you wanted to be specific) until Hermione's brother interrupted them.

"What got you lots' knickers in a twist?" he asked with a raised brow. These two sure seemed to love quarrelling.

"Nothing," Hermione replied, wanting to drop the subject of their quarrel.

Her brother nodded, accepting her answer. "Okay. So what were you watching?"

"We were watching The Fellowship of the Ring."

"Ah, are you doing a Lord of the Rings marathon then?" Robin asked.

Hermione was about to negate, but was cut off by Scorpius, who immediately jumped at the opportunity when he saw one.

"Yes," he quickly answered.

"Cool, I haven't watched them in ages. Film marathons are the best," her brother told them and plopped down on one of the cushy armchairs, obviously planning on staying and joining their movie night - which was actually over as far as Hermione was concerned.

"Yes, marathons are the best," Scorpius agreed while giving Hermione a pointed look, paired with an annoying 'In your face!' expression.

Hermione let out an exasperated sigh. She hated to be the party pooper, so this pretty much only left her with the option of submitting to the boys' will.

"Well, then let me grab some coffee first. I don't think I can sit here for another four hours without caffeine – no matter how good or interesting the film is," Hermione announced and got up to go to the kitchen.

"Hurry up, though. Don't loiter," Scorpius pressed, which almost made Hermione turn around and whack him over the head.

Some boyfriend he sometimes was!

* * *

Why wasn't she surprised? Of course she should have known that Scorpius would be particularly fond of Gollum out of all characters. The disparaging remarks the haggard creature would make at the Hobbits served as great source of amusement to Scorpius, whereas the Uruk-hai got him looking rather unsettled whenever they appeared on screen.

Then when the credits of the last feature started rolling, Hermione had to hold back a chuckle at the sight of her boyfriend. Judging the expression on his face, the ending must have touched him a lot. Hermione could sympathize with Scorpius on that matter. Even though the trilogy had a happy ending, it was still sad to see the fellowship ending and Gandalf and Frodo leaving Middle-earth. However Hermione's sympathy for her boyfriend only lasted for so long - for she found out that there was an entirely different reason for his sadness.

"My life is so boring compared to theirs!" he complained, looking very unhappy while saying this.

Honestly?

"It's a fictional tale written for entertainment. Of course it will make the life of any normal person seem boring," Hermione answered dryly. "How do you think I felt when I read the books?"

Scorpius grumbled unintelligibly.

"So, do you regret the film marathon? Bet you don't," Scorpius then told her conceitedly.

Hermione stood up and stretched.

"Apart from the fact that my bottom feels all numb from sitting for such a long time: no, I don't regret it," she admitted and poked her brother, who had fallen asleep, to wake him up - only to receive a grumpy 'Lemme sleep!'.

"The films were a fantastic adaptation of the books. There were quite a few changes, but they were all well executed. I think that I might actually prefer lots of those changes to the things that actually happen in the books – like the ending. From what I remember, the Hobbits return to Shire after the Ring is destroyed; only find the Shire in ruins. It's like the vision Galadriel shows Frodo of what will happen to the Shire should he not succeed. Well, in the books it happens anyway, so she actually shows him the actual future, not just a vision of a possible future.

"And Saruman didn't die like he does in the beginning of the third film, where he falls off the tower and is impaled. He and his followers actually go to the Shire and enslave the Hobbits there. So when Frodo and his friends are back, they have to free the Shire from tyranny first - which, of course, they succeed in doing. Eventually, Saruman gets his throat slit by Wormtongue. Gandalf, Frodo and Bilbo still leave Middle-earth with the Elves, though," Hermione explained.

"Sounds like unnecessarily dragging the story on," Scorpius commented.

"It's actually quite realistic. Because why should the Shire have been exempt from the war?" she asked and sat back on the sofa again.

Scorpius stretched lazily and wound an arm around Hermione.

"I guess so... Your brother recommended another trilogy to me for next time by the way," Scorpius told her and picked up the box with the masked superhero in black on the cover.

Hermione groaned. No, not another one!

* * *

After having spent most of her holidays with either her family or her boyfriend, Hermione finally got around to spend time with her two best friends at Grimmauld Place. (But they had been busy with their families, too, so she wasn't the only one to blame.) Harry and Ron both were teasing her endlessly about forgetting and not wanting to hang out with them that much anymore since they were 'old coots' now.

When Ron went to the kitchen to get something to drink, Harry decided to ask her about her new relationship.

"So what is it like being Draco Malfoy's son's girlfriend?"

"You heard about that, huh?"

Harry nodded in amusement.

"It's good," Hermione admitted with a grin. "Not Scorpius being Draco Malfoy's son, but the relationship."

"That's good to hear. However should that ever change and your boyfriend doesn't treat you well – let me know and I'll play my Auror card. Trust me, it works every time. Not to mention the fact that I'm _the Harry Potter_!" Harry joked.

Hermione chuckled. "Thank you, I'll make sure to remember that."

"Yeah, but honestly, I never saw something like this coming: you and Scorpius Malfoy. I'm really glad that Lily is still uninterested in boys – although I've noticed that she definitely doesn't think they're 'icky' either. I liked it better when she thought they were icky."

"Well, she is fourteen. You had your first date when you were fourteen. I still feel bad for Parvati…," Hermione trailed off.

"Hey!"

"Oh come on, Harry. You've got to admit that you were a horrible date. Both you_ and_ Ron. I'm glad I went to the Yule Ball with neither of you - as much as I love you both."

"I apologized to Parvati," Harry said defensively. Albeit the fact that it had taken him many, many years to remember to do so, he _had_ apologized. Better late than never, right?

"Yeah, just don't follow Ron's footsteps when it comes to your daughter and dating. He's not making Rose's life easy."

"I would never. I'm a cool father, Hermione. I even got a coffee mug to prove it!" he told her with a puffed up chest.

"Good for you, Harry."

Harry grinned at her. "So have you met your potential father-in-law yet?"

"Harry, Scorpius and I have been together for only a couple of months. I'm hardly thinking of Malfoy as such a permanent figure in my life... It's a quite scary thought now that you mention it."

"Sorry. But have you met him again?"

Hermione nodded. "Yes and it was incredibly awkward. Although I have to say that he was surprisingly accepting of the relationship."

"Really?" Harry asked sceptically. He couldn't quite imagine that.

Hermione shrugged.

"Well, for starters, he didn't try to talk his son out of being in a relationship with me. And then Malfoy even went and got me birth control."

"He got you _birth control_?"

Hermione nodded; this time in embarrassment.

"Who got whom birth control?" Ron asked as he entered the room with a bottle of pumpkin juice.

"Malfoy; Hermione," Harry answered and immediately realized his mistake. However it was already too late. He quickly mouthed a 'sorry' to Hermione, who nodded in acceptance of his apology, even though she didn't look happy whilst doing so.

"_Hermione_! This is something you're supposed to save for marriage!" Ron scolded her, disappointment apparent on his face.

* * *

Ron's lecture about chastity (with Harry coming to her defence) continued for a good ten minutes before he left the room to get something to eat.

'I need something to eat to help me stomach what I've just heard!' were his exact words.

Hermione glared at his retreating back.

"It's not like he waited until marriage either," she complained, not liking being lectured and scolded by Ron about abstinence at all - especially when she knew how very hypocritical he was being with her.

"Actually…," Harry began to say and gave her one very telling look that made Hermione's eyes grew as wide as saucers.

"_No way_. He and Gabrielle actually _waited_ until they were _married_?" she asked in amazement. Good for them… she guessed.

"Don't look so doubtful, Hermione. It's actually not that uncommon or at least wasn't for people from old wizarding families. However it also needs to be said that those who do, very often marry young. But to answer your actual question: Ron yes; Gabby no," he replied before breaking into a fit of gleeful laughter.

Hermione frowned at him. Harry was just as bad as Theodore in that aspect. What was it with men being so gleeful about having slept with someone else's partner first or getting to sleep with them when the other didn't?

Harry continued, "Ron doesn't know, though. He thinks she waited as well, so please don't tell him or he'll have my balls. Although to be fair, she was my girlfriend first, so I technically did nothing wrong."

"Well, I still don't appreciate being scolded and treated like a naughty child," Hermione protested.

Yes, why was everyone suddenly like that with her? First Malfoy, now Ron.

"You slept with your boyfriend, so technically you have been naughty. You are no child, but definitely have been naughty," Harry countered and promptly earned himself a whack on the arm.

"_Harry,_" Hermione told him warningly, but grinned at him all the same.

"Have you heard any news from Hagrid?" she then moved onto a new topic.

Harry shook his head. "No, it's been a while since he last wrote. But he has told me that he would be back around May."

"I miss him. I really look forward to seeing him again. I miss being able to visit him in his little hut, have tea, eat rock-hard biscuits and chat," Hermione laughed.

"Yes, that is something I definitely miss, too. Hagrid was always someone you could count on no matter what."

Hermione nodded. "He was. He always lent me an ear, when some people were shunning me over stupid reasons like brooms."

Harry looked bashful. "Women never forget, do they?"

Hermione mouthed a 'No, never.' at him.

"Well, if it helps, I've stopped taking the easy way out by staying 'neutral' during conflicts. I learned to do so after a very dear friend of mine gave me a good dressing-down for not sticking up enough for her."

"Yeah, I was quite angry that day," Hermione admitted sheepishly, although she did not regret it happening. The angry outburst had been long time coming. Those things had needed to be said.

"Angry? I think the word you are looking for is 'furious'. And talking about upset people… Ron's decided to re-join us," Harry whispered and nudged her in the side.

Hermione watched as Ron sat down on the armchair next to Harry from the corner of her eye. However she was determined to not acknowledge him until Ron apologized.

Much to her surprise, she didn't even need to ignore Ron for very long. Hermione supposed those were the wonders of growing older and wiser. It was too strange dealing with mature Ron and Harry sometimes, because she was still used to them being, well, boys and not men.

Ron coughed to get her attention. When Hermione indeed looked up at him, he began with his apology.

"Hermione, I think I need to apologize for my behaviour. Although I'm disappointed that you didn't wait, what you decide to do is still none of my business. You are old enough to make your own decisions, even if I don't agree with your choices," Ron said diplomatically.

"Thank you, Ron. I accept your apology," Hermione responded equally diplomatically. All was well again!

* * *

A/N: Thank you for the favs, follows and especially the reviews. They were all appreciated. Your thoughts and suggestions influence the plot of the story a great deal (as some of you will have noticed) and are very helpful, so thanks a lot! :)

Has anyone of you watched the TV show "Awake"? If you haven't, then you should give it a try. It's amazing!


	23. Chapter 23: Revelations

A/N: I read a story that had the funniest spelling mistake/typo ever. It was a story that had Hermione waking up to an "alarm cock", hahahahahaha!

Should I ever post another story then I might sneak the very fabulous word "alarm cock" in somewhere! Good idea? I think so, hahahaha! ;)

* * *

Chapter 23: Revelations

* * *

School had started again and the past three weeks had been exhausting. The NEWTs were just around the corner and all 7th years students, including the professors, were tense these days. On some days Scorpius felt like his head was going to explode from all the exam preparation. His girlfriend, however, seemed to be in her full element and didn't seem as affected by the stress as other students. Scorpius was actually starting to believe that she was really _enjoying_ this intense learning phase.

With a heavy sigh, Scorpius dragged himself down the corridor. When reached the back the open corridor, something, or rather someone caught his eye: His best friend was sitting all huddled up with a classmate on a bench in the small courtyard. And this classmate he was sitting with wasn't just any classmate – no, it was his very own ex-girlfriend, Leanne.

_What the hell did these two think they were doing?_

Scorpius decided to break up their cosy session by coughing loudly. The two teenagers tore their gaze away from one other and looked up at Scorpius with annoyance. This annoyance, however, was soon replaced by looks of guilt.

Scorpius continued to fix Theo and Leanne with a hard stare as they hastily jumped off the bench and put some distance between each other.

"Oh hey, Scor. What's up?" Theo asked, trying to act nonchalant, but completely failing.

"Apparently a lot," Scorpius answered coolly.

"Um, I'll catch up with you later, okay?" Leanne mumbled to Theo before nodding shortly at Scorpius and making her escape.

The boys watched her leave. When she was out of sight, Scorpius' attention was immediately back on Theo.

"Would you kindly explain what I just saw?" he barked.

"I don't know. What do you think you just saw, Scor?" Theo asked innocently.

"I think you saw you about to get all touchy-feely with my ex-girlfriend, Theo. Tell me, were you trying to make a move on her?"

_I already have, _Theo thought, but didn't voice it out loud. But apparently that wasn't even necessary; his guilty facial expression must have given him away anyway.

"Oh, tell me you didn't. Tell me you haven't already made a move on my ex," Scorpius warned.

"Okay, I won't tell you then," Theo told him cautiously.

"So you _have _made a move on her!" Scorpius exclaimed, feeling outraged by this discovery.

"I thought you didn't want me answ-"

"I meant it rhetorically!" Scorpius snapped.

Theo narrowed his eyes at his friend. "Even if I did start something with her, it's my perfect right to do so. As you have so very kindly pointed out earlier, she is your _ex-girlfriend_ – not your _current girlfriend_! Besides, your relationship with Leanne wasn't even that serious."

"That's because she was always so aloof!"

"Not my fault," Theo answered provokingly whilst Scorpius scoffed.

"Oh yeah, let's forget her 'It's not you, it's me' speech'!" Scorpius said in a high-pitched voice, obviously trying to imitate the girl. "That's such a stupid reason to give someone when breaking up with them."

"Well, she just wasn't that into you. She liked you, yes, but she wasn't into you," Theo defended his classmate.

"Whatever... as long as you haven't shagged her, I'm okay with it."

Theo looked uncomfortable at Scorpius words. "Um…"

"_What_? She hopped into bed with you? _I can't fucking believe this_! She rapped me over the knuckles every time my hands 'started to wander' as she called it - and I only ever managed to touch her arse! I wasn't allowed to do _anything_!"

Theo tried hard not to laugh, knowing that it would serve to upset his friend further.

"Mate, cheer up! At least now you have a girlfriend who does allow you those liberties, if not more. You shouldn't care what other people do with your exes."

"It's an ego thing, Theo."

"Yeah, I can see you're still miffed about the fact that she dumped you. She told me that you even docked points from her at the beginning of the year over something very petty."

"It wasn't petty. Uniform violation is still a rule violation, Theo," Scorpius said patronizingly.

"A lot of people violate the dress code," Theo countered.

"Yeah, but 'a lot of people' aren't my exes who have unceremoniously dumped me."

"So you admit it."

"Whatever," Scorpius answered grudgingly before asking, "Was that the reason why you backed off Hermione when I asked you to? Because of Leanne?"

Theo nodded, "Yeah, thought I could make her jealous, if I showed interest in someone else."

"Why did you want to make her jealous?"

Theo sighed in exasperation. "Because she couldn't decide what she wanted. One minute she wanted to be with me, the other she changed her mind and told me she didn't want to be in a relationship."

Scorpius snorted. "Yeah, that sounds a lot like Leanne. So what's the story now?"

Theo shrugged. "I don't know. I don't understand why women can't tell us what they want upfront. They are always leaving bloody_ hints_ that we are supposed to make sense of."

Scorpius clapped him on the back.

"We sure picked them well, huh? I've got a bossy one and you've got one who is indecisive," Scorpius chuckled.

"Yeah, I'm not sure which one is worse."

* * *

Hermione noted with a great deal of satisfaction that the two silver animals seemed to be on their best behaviour today. There were no inappropriate activities, only obedience just the way it was supposed to be. And to think about how much she had dreaded the Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson when their professor announced a NEWTs preparation lesson, strongly hinting that the conjuration of a Patronus would be part of their practical examination. Her worries had been completely unnecessary.

"It is just me or does your otter look a little round around the middle?" Scorpius asked, interrupting her train of thoughts.

Hermione frowned. _Huh? Round around the middle?_

"I don't know what you're talking about, Scorpius," she replied dismissively before demanding, "Is there perhaps something you want to tell me by saying that my Patronus is fat?"

Could it be a subtle attempt to hint that she had gained weight? It better not be! She wasn't complaining about his skinny arse either!

Scorpius sometimes had the tendency to make supposedly harmless comments to subtly tell her things - like how humid the weather was to let her know that her hair was acting out. _Hmpf!_

Scorpius held up his hands defensively, indicating that he didn't want to start a fight with her.

"_No_, I was just… I mean, aren't otters normally supposed to be more slender? Look at mine! Do you think-"

"Do I think what?" Hermione interrupted.

Scorpius shrugged. "You know, since your Patronus and my Patronus have gotten it on… Do you think your Patronus is…," Scorpius trailed off, shaping an imaginary bump over his stomach with the hands.

Hermione immediately dismissed this idea. "Oh, don't be silly. They're not real animals. They're charms, and charms don't get pregnant."

Scorpius looked sceptical. "But look at the bump!"

"Scorpius, there is no bump! So stop being paranoid! Patronuses don't get cups! _End of story_."

"Yeah, and they are not supposed to start humping each other either - yet yours and mine did," Scorpius mumbled, but said no more on the topic and went about to practice other spells that were NEWT material.

* * *

Hermione cursed Scorpius for the nth time that hour for planting his stupid thought in her head. Now she couldn't help but being distracted and constantly glancing at her Patronus' stomach and check it for a 'bump'. All of her boyfriend's talking had gotten her so paranoid that she was beginning to believe that she was seeing a baby bump as well – even though she knew that it wasn't possible.

Of course it didn't help the cause when Scorpius' otter started nudging her otter's belly affectionately.

"Did you see that? Did you see the _nudge_?" Scorpius hollered, snapping Hermione out of her pensive state.

"Scorpius, there's no need to yell when you're standing right next to me! You scared me!" Hermione scolded as she crouched down to pick up the wand she had dropped out of fright.

Scorpius looked apologetic. "Sorry. But did you see that?"

Hermione sighed and nodded grudgingly. "Yes, but that's normal otter behaviour. They do the nudging thing a lot. They are very affectionate animals. I'm sure there's nothing to rack one's brain over." _At least she hoped so._

Whoever came up with the idea of Patronuses being NEWT material? Ugh!

* * *

"Let's go, Hobbit. We must hurry or we are going to be late!" Scorpius rushed.

"Scorpius, I swear if you call me a Hobbit one more time, I will-"

"Oh, come on, Hermione. I don't get why you're always getting upset whenever I call you that. It's funny! And let's be honest here: You do have the curly hair going on and are kind of short," he argued.

"Well, flowers don't grow like weeds," Hermione countered and stuck her nose high up in the air.

"Very cute, Hermione, very cute. How about we use the simile of you being a daisy and me being a sunflower - you know, to avoid referring to me as weed, because that's not very nice. And this way we also stay within your plant comparison."

"If we pick that simile then I would be the weed."

Scorpius looked at her in confusion. "What?"

"Daisies are often considered weeds," Hermione explained with a deep frown on her face.

"Oh. You like roses better then?"

Hermione nodded. "Yes."

"Okay then, you are a tiny rose and I'm a tall sunflower."

As soon as those words were uttered, a loud cough was heard from a few feet away. When the couple turned to look, they found Scorpius' mates standing there and looking at Scorpius with disturbed expressions.

Scorpius cursed under his breath._ Fuck._ He had just said the poofiest thing ever and of course his friends had to walk by in that exact moment. They were never going to let him live down to this.

After awkward seconds of silence, the boys finally decided to move on and continued walking. When they were out of hearing range, Hermione picked the conversation up where they left off.

"Although I like flowers, I'd still prefer to be called by my real name."

Scorpius clicked his tongue. Hermione was really no fun sometimes.

"I allow you to call me a _ferret_, I wake up early in the morning on weekends to have breakfast with you, I let myself be terrorized by your cat… - I do a lot of things for you that I normally wouldn't do for anyone. You're really lucky that I love you so much," Scorpius told her playfully and handed Hermione her book bag while she stiffened at his words - as did Scorpius when he realized what he had just said to her.

_Shit, where the hell had that come from? Fuck, fuck, fuck!_

He risked a nervous side glance at his girlfriend, who was looking at him with wide eyes. She, very much like him, was stunned by his proclamation. Could he really blame her? After all he was very much surprised himself! While he had always known that he liked her a lot, he sure as hell hadn't been aware that he actually _loved_ her!

The silence was beginning to become unbearable, so Scorpius decided to break it.

"Now this is awkward," he said lamely.

Hermione quickly shock her head at this, finally coming out of her stupor.

"No, it isn't," she said for the first time after his slip-up.

"Maybe not for you, but to me it feels pretty damn awkward," Scorpius disagreed while shifting from one foot to the other.

Hermione opened her mouth respond, only to then quickly close it again. She was still stunned by his proclamation of love.

_Love_! Hermione's heart did a tap dance.

Scorpius' heart on the other hand had glumly retreated to a dark corner, was facing the wall and feeling more crushed with every second of silence that passed.

Not being able to bear this situation any longer, Scorpius decided that it was time to leave.

Hermione quickly reached for his hand and pulled him back. "Scorpius, you can't tell me something like that and then just walk off."

"Well, you can't expect me to stay there like an idiot forever either. Those were like the longest two minutes of my life. And since I can see that what I said to you made you – well, actually made both of us - feel extremely uncomfortable, I'd better be going," Scorpius retorted.

He didn't like being in this vulnerable state at all, especially with her just standing there saying nothing, only staring at him. He pulled his hand out of her grasp and turned to walk away. Hermione quickly reached for his hand again and pulled him back.

"Hermione," Scorpius said in a voice that was now slightly laced with annoyance, but this didn't deter his girlfriend. Even more so, she seemed to have found her reply to his statement.

"You can't go, because I… I want to tell you that I'm in love with you, too," she said softly.

Now it was turn for Scorpius' heart to do a tap dance.

* * *

Scott wasn't happy about the point loss his roommate had caused their house by arriving late to class. Therefore he didn't waste any time to voice his displeasure to Scorpius.

"What took you long? Weren't you two just right behind us when we headed here? You lost us points for being late. It's nearly the end of the term and we can't afford to lose points. Every point counts. Remember how close we lost the House Cup last year to Ravenclaw? By five points, Scor, by _five points_!" he complained.

Scorpius cocked an eyebrow at him. "I had an unexpected talk with my girlfriend which I couldn't really delay."

"What talk could possibly be worth losing house points over?"

"Mate, cut it out with the point loss already," Theo came to Scorpius defence.

Scorpius nodded his thanks at him. "Not that it is any of your business, Scott, but I was late because I sort of let the L-word slip to my girlfriend."

Upon hearing that confession, amusement replaced the annoyance on Scott's face. "You called her a lesbian?"

Scorpius face-palmed. "No, you dolt. I said the _other_ L-word to her."

Realization dawned upon his friend's face.

"_Oh..._ But why would you say that word?" Scott asked, looking at him in genuine curiosity.

"It slipped out, okay?" Scorpius replied defensively. Hell, why was he even discussing this with them in the first place?

"Yeah well, at least that would explain why she's so bloody chipper and all smiles - at 8:40 on a Monday morning no less… So am I right to assume that she hasn't put out to you yet?" Scott continued to ask.

"What's that got to do with anything?" Scorpius asked in confusion, not understanding why his friend would come to such conclusion.

"Saying the L-word is a quite popular tactic used in order to get women to be more amorous with you. Not a tactic I use, though. Too much risk of the tactic backfiring terribly on you."

"I didn't say it because of that. I'm getting plenty."

"Oh okay; good for you then. Being in, you know, the L-word is good when you're in a relationship," his friend conceded.

"Thanks… I guess."

* * *

She was really overdoing it now. While he understood that she was in an extremely good mood, she needed to stop saying that phrase all the time.

"Hermione, you can't just say '_But you love me'_ and then pout at me every time I don't want to do something for you. It doesn't work that way. I mean, you don't do things for me sometimes even though _you_ _love me_."

Hermione smiled impishly at him. "But it would make me very happy."

"You already are happy."

"Yes, but it would make me even happier! And since you love m-"

"Alright, alright," Scorpius cut her off before she could finish the sentence. "I will try and offer our house elves at the Manor money for their labour. Now leave it alone, will you woman?"

Hermione beamed. "Of course." _What a wonderful day today was!_

* * *

A/N: This story is coming to an end! I have already written the final chapter! O_O Not sure if I will write another chapter before posting it yet…


	24. Chapter 24: Ende

A/N: For anyone who was wondering whether or not Hermione's Patronus was having cups: The answer is no. I just thought it would be funny for Scorpius to make assumptions. ;)

* * *

Chapter 24: Not Going To Call This An Epilogue Even Though It Is

* * *

Draco squinted his eyes in concentration while holding back a heavy sigh. No, he was definitely not going to get any work done today. They simply made it impossible.

"Grandpa, I'm boooored!" the voice to his left complained for the nth time in the last fifteen minutes.

"Yes grandpa, I'm bored, too!" the squeaky voice to Draco's right immediately parroted.

Draco attempted to blank both voices out again in order to at least be able to finish off the last bit of the contract he was working on; however his little companions wouldn't allow it. Their loud breathing next to his ear was too distracting for their grandfather and Draco was beginning to believe that the children were very aware of this fact. Not to mention their next move that took the game up to an entire new level: They started shaking him lightly by his arms with their sticky little hands – their sticky chocolate-y hands to be exact. That was when Draco knew he had lost the fight.

He eyed the milky brown stains on his white shirt.

"Children," he addressed the boys sternly, causing both to quickly let go of his arms and pout at him sheepishly. Apparently they tried to play their "I am too adorable, don't be mad at me" card on him now – and it was working.

His two grandsons had "run away" from home with the help of a house elf today after apparently not getting their will from their parents. Draco had resisted a smile and a groan at the same time when the little runaways had expressed their outrage about their parents and told him how they had decided to live with "you and grandma".

_Oh hell no. _Sleepovers were only acceptable when he had reinforcement a.k.a. his wife at home, so they better stop unpacking those little backpacks of theirs!

While Draco loved his grandchildren dearly, they could be a bit much – see his current situation. Rumour even had it that Scorpius and his wife had been trying for another one - a girl – for some time now – which was a complete _double hell no _in Draco's books_._ _A Hermione Granger-Malfoy 2.0 was not what the world needed._

But then again, those had been just rumours. Draco was actually pretty confident that Scorpius and his daughter-in-law weren't planning on expanding their family any further. It was quite scary to see how much his daughter-in-law had grown on him.

He remembered the day that his son had come up to him all distraught, pouring his heart out after he and his then girlfriend had had an ugly dispute. He had listened to his son's rants for a good hour, making helpful suggestions and saying comforting words to him.

* * *

_"She's driving me crazy. I don't think I can do this anymore."_

_"Then perhaps you should do what needs to be done. The way your relationship is going right now isn't healthy."_

_Scorpius looked darkly at the opposite wall. "Yeah."_

_Draco gave him a comforting pat on the shoulder. "I know it won't be easy, but you should do what's best for you – for both of you. You have been having all these fights for a while now and it makes you both miserable."_

_Scorpius nodded and took the glass of Scotch his father offered him. He downed the content in one go._

_"Yeah, I guess I'll ask her to marry me then."_

_Draco tripped over the rug at his son's announcement. "WHAT?"_

_Scorpius frowned at him. "I'm going to ask Hermione to marry me."_

_"I heard that, but what I want to know is WHY, Scorpius? You just told me that you were going to break it off with her!"_

_"What are you talking about? I never said that!"_

_"Never said that?" Draco repeated in disbelief. "Then what was your whole ranting for the last hour about?"_

_"She was frustrating me, but I'm in no way breaking up with her. I love her." _

_"And you think the solution is to MARRY her?" Draco exclaimed._

_"Yeah," Scorpius answered while giving him a look that said 'Isn't it obvious, old man?'_

_Draco only shook his head. So apparently that one time he had accidentally dropped Scorpius on his head as a child had affected Scorpius after all. Admittedly, the banging noise had been quite loud and the bump on Scorpius' head pretty big, so Draco really should have known. _

_"I'm not even going to ask you why you think that that is the best solution to the problem."_

_Apparently Scorpius didn't care for his father to ask for he willingly shared this information on his own. _

_"Well, most of our friends are married now. Many even have children. I think she's been so bloody moody lately because she's jealous and thinks it's time for us to take that step and is waiting for me to ask her. I would have preferred to wait until we reached our thirties, but twenty-six is alright too, I guess."_

_Draco pinched the bridge of his nose. "Do whatever you please, Scor."_

_"So you think it's a good idea then?" Scorpius asked hopefully._

_"No," his father told him flatly. "But go ahead."_

_"Okay."_

_The two drank another round of Scotch in silence._

_"You think I should get her pregnant while I'm at it? You know, killing two birds with one stone?" Scorpius asked, his expression being completely serious._

_"No, Scorpius. Just ask her to marry you. Do one thing at a time, okay? Do not impregnate your girlfriend. You are both still young. You have all the time in the world. Be married for a year or two before you start any family planning."_

_"Okay."_

_"Good."_

* * *

Of course his idiot son had not waited, put his plan right into action and had gotten Granger pregnant right away, bestowing everyone with something that Muggles called a "shotgun wedding". Not that Draco would ever admit to knowing such mundane Muggle expressions – especially when it was Yankee Muggle slang.

But back to his current situation: Astoria was out with a friend and this meant that he had to deal with the two "refugees" on his own. For a moment Draco seriously considered buying them their oh-so-wanted Jarvey that their parents refused to get them - although their parents' argument against buying one seemed somewhat legit. Owls did _love_ Jarveys – with "love" being a synonym for "loving to eat" Jarveys here. Draco could understand that their parents wanted to spare them the sorrow of finding their hypothetical pet having been devoured by the family owl.

"Grandpaaa, I'm bor-"

Draco put down his quill. "Alright, alright. I'm going to stop working. I'm all yours now."

His small blond-haired grandchildren grinned at him. Thankfully both had not inherited their mother's big hair, but the very appealing Malfoy trademark hair.

He spent the next 76 minutes watching a story on one of those Muggle entertainment devices with the little Malfoys. Even though the story was supposedly for children, Draco didn't think it was appropriate for them – not that the children cared for they were enthusiastically singing along the, in Draco's rather opinion, rather disturbing (but catchy) song about kidnapping Father Christmas, beating him with a stick and locking him up in a box in one particular scene.

Shortly after the story was over, a loud roaring in the fireplace of his study could be heard. It seemed that his son had come to collect his little clones.

Upon hearing their father's voice, the children hastily retreated under Draco's desk and made shushing signs at their grandfather, pleading him not to rat them out. Unfortunately the bright yellow backpacks that were lying in the middle of the room, were betraying their presence.

"Hello father," Scorpius greeted cheerily before pointing questioningly at the evidence on the floor and then continuing, "How are you are and mother? I hope all is well."

"Hello Scorpius. Oh, your mother and I are well. We just got back from Dublin three days ago," Draco replied and subtly glanced over to his desk.

Scorpius nodded in comprehension. "That's good. Was it a business trip?"

"No, we went there on holiday. Your mother hardly accompanies me on business trips anymore. She is actually pushing me towards retirement, can you believe that?"

"Well, you do work a lot. I don't think you should retire, but you might want to cut back some working hours... and do some old people stuff with mother."

Before Draco could retort anything to his son's ribbing comment, Scorpius quickly changed the subject.

"Have you seen my boys by any chance? Somehow they have disappeared. I've looked for them everywhere, but couldn't find them. Do you have any clues as to where they could be?" he asked in fake concern.

"I'm afraid not. I haven't seen them since ten days ago on your birthday."

Scorpius sighed dramatically. "I think they have run away because they were angry at me and Hermione."

"Oh."

"Yes, it's very unfortunate. Especially now that there's a Jarvey waiting at home in need of new owners."

Two small gasps escaped from under Draco's desk, but the two adults pretended not to have heard them.

"Well, I suppose you will have to return the Jarvey to the Magical Menagerie then? Since no one wants it," Draco commented, trying hard to hold back laughter that was threatening to escape.

"NO!" his grandchildren immediately exclaimed in unison before jumping out from under their hiding place, begging their father not to give away "their" Jarvey.

Forgotten was their grandfather as the children then eagerly dragged their father in direction of the fireplace to head back home. Scorpius, however, dragged the boys right back so they could say goodbye to their grandfather and get their forgotten backpacks.

Two hugs from a five and a seven-year-old later, his son handed Draco a soft pink envelope.

Draco cocked an eyebrow. "Handing out gifts today, aren't you?"

Scorpius grinned at him, but said nothing while Draco opened the envelope and pulled out its content – a picture.

Draco's eyes grew wide. "Is that…?"

"A little girl, yes," Scorpius said proudly, puffing his chest a little.

Draco stood up and hugged his son tightly. "Congratulations, Scorpius."

"Thank you, father. We found out yesterday. In six months' time a third one will join this bunch," Scorpius chuckled and nodded at his boys who were chatting excitedly about their new pet.

"Do they know they are going to be big brothers?"

Scorpius shook his head. "No, we haven't broken the news to them yet. Thought we should buffer the news a bit by getting them a distraction first since we don't know for sure how they are going to react."

"Hence the Jarvey," Draco concluded.

"Hence the Jarvey," Scorpius repeated. "I'd rather have them crying over an eaten Jarvey than crying because they are jealous about having to share their parents and grandparents with another sibling. Although I do hope that my owl will leave the Jarvey alone, of course."

"Your mother will be over the moon about her granddaughter."

"I know. She-" Scorpius began, but was interrupted by an impatient-looking seven-year-old.

"Dad, can we go now?"

Scorpius sighed deeply. "Of course."

"Great! Goodbye, grandpa!" the boy sang.

"Bye-bye, grandpa!" his little brother chirped in agreement.

"This is my cue to leave. We'll see you for dinner tomorrow at six?" Scorpius asked as he shouldered the small backpacks that the boys had once again forgotten.

"Your mother and I will see you tomorrow for dinner at six," Draco confirmed and gave his son another hug before they left.

This family certainly had unhealthy fascination with ferrets and ferret-like creatures! Draco only hoped that his little granddaughter would break this habit.

* * *

THE END!

* * *

A/N: I swear I really did try to avoid getting all mushy in my last chapter. I suppose I didn't quite succeed in avoiding kitschy-ness in the end. :P

The film Draco and the children were watching on a portable was "The Nightmare Before Christmas" and the song they were singing "Kidnap the Sandy Claws".

And if I were to choose a soundtrack for this story, then "How You Do" by Matthew Puckett would be played at the end of it. (Go listen to it - it's a cool upbeat song.)

Anyway, now to the important part of my A/N:

**Thanks everyone for reading, commenting and putting this story on your favourites list (I also saw that this story is even featured in some communities)! I had a lot of fun writing MtFS and am glad that so many people enjoyed it!**

**I feel like I should have made one of those Thank You Lists where everyone that reviewed and left helpful advice, suggestions and encouraging words should be named, but unfortunately I'm lazy. However if you are reading this, please consider yourself thanked:**

**Thank you, my dear reader _._._._ (please insert your name)! :) You were a great help!**


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